The 17th Prophecy of the End Days
by readwritebeawesome
Summary: Four friends who just wanted to fight off the evil and finish school. It sounds simple enough, but life is never simple. Each of them carries a secret, and their secrets could be their undoing. Their lives are about to be turned upside-down and they might not all get back up after the dust settles.
1. Chapter 1

John was six years old when his dad explained to him how he was different from everyone else. He thought his difference would have made it impossible for him to find friends, but it didn't.

Rose was ten years old when she found a book on the occult. It had fallen off the shelf at the library and she'd pored over all the pages, regardless of how little she could understand. She was hooked, and was determined to read more.

Dave was…man, who remembers how old he was when Dirk started training him? It seemed like his whole life he'd been raised to hunt the supernatural creatures that plagued their world. It never bothered him that he didn't get a normal upbringing. He was glad he was protecting people.

Jade was seven years old when she first saw a werewolf. She had been exploring the woods with Bec one night, ignoring her grandfather's warnings. Bec had started growling and she had stopped and moved closer to him. The werewolf leapt out of the bushes. It was built like a man but covered in thick fur and with a wolf-like head. Jade had screamed and ran, though she wouldn't have been able to outrun it. Luckily her grandfather had gone after her and shot the werewolf. Since then she hadn't ventured into the forest ever again. Her grandfather trained her to kill werewolves and other monsters. She and her friends eventually formed their own team of Hunters.

Now Jade was venturing into the forest for the first time in eight years. She held her gun, loaded with silver bullets, tightly in her hands. Bec walked beside her, ears twitching at the smallest sounds. She took deep breaths to calm her nerves. Her grandfather always told her how the forest was crawling with werewolves, but for her that was all the more of a reason to go there. She had to kill them. She didn't know why she wasn't raised by her parents, but she had a guess, and she was willing to risk her hide on that guess of avenging them.

Bec growled and Jade froze. She held her gun up and scanned the forest around her. It looked perfectly quiet, the only sounds were a few crickets. Then she heard a low howl off in the distance. She took a deep breath and walked in the direction of the howl. She heard more howls in the distance and shivered. Bec seemed nervous too but she kept going.

Eventually she found the howling werewolf. He was perched on a rock and howling loudly with his head tilted back. She pointed her gun at him and fired. He dropped down dead. She sighed with relief and smiled. That hadn't been too hard!

Bec cried out and Jade turned around. Two more werewolves stood behind her. She fired at them and they fell to the ground, but more crashed out of the bushes and she soon became surrounded. She fired around her and desperately looked for a way to escape, but they had completely surrounded her.

"Grandpa!" she called. "Help!" A werewolf leapt at her and she screamed.

"Are you okay Jade?" John asked. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Jade said. "I'm just tired. I didn't get enough sleep." She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "I had a bad dream."

"Maybe you should hold off hunting tonight then," Rose said. "We can't have you yawning while trying to fire a shot."

"No, I'll be okay," Jade said. "Really."

"You sure?" John asked. "I know it's a full moon tonight and you really like to patrol in case any werewolves leave the forest, but if you're tired you should really take a break." Jade hesitated and sighed.

"Fine," she said. "I'll stay home."

"Don't worry, there'll be plenty left for you to kill," Dave said.

"I know." Jade yawned again and rested her head on her desk. "I think I'll take a nap. Let me know when the teacher gets here." She started snoring after a few seconds.

"Do you think her narcolepsy is back?" John said. "I thought that stopped eight years ago."

"Yes, it did," Rose said. She frowned at Jade.

"She said she had a bad dream, right?" Dave said. "She probably didn't get any sleep."

The teacher walked into the classroom and John reached to shake Jade awake, but Dave grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"Let's just let her sleep." John looked at Jade and nodded.

"What was your dream about Jade?" Rose asked. Jade tore her gaze away from the window and looked at her.

"What? Why are you asking?"

"Talking about it might help."

"We're on a school bus full of kids Rose. Is this really the right environment?"

"Relax, they won't be able to hear you over all the noise," Dave said. John nodded. Jade rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine. I dreamed I'd gone into the forest, you know, the one behind my house that I've only been in once eight years ago."

"Interesting," Rose said. "What happened?"

"I found a werewolf howling and I shot it. But then a whole bunch showed up and surrounded me and I was screaming to my grandpa to help me but he didn't hear me. And…" Rose reached over and patted Jade's head.

"It's just a dream Jade. It can't hurt you."

"I know." Jade smiled. "Thanks Rose."

"Try thinking of something other than hunting when you go to sleep," John suggested. "That should lessen the chance of having a nightmare like that."

"Okay, I'll do that." The bus pulled to a stop and Jade stood up. "Bye guys. Good luck hunting."

"Thanks," John said. "See you." Jade waved to them and stepped off of the bus. She sighed and glanced up at the sky. She could faintly see the full moon. She shivered and walked down the street to her house.

"Do you think there's something different about Jade?" Rose asked.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"Something about her seemed different."

"I didn't notice anything," Dave said.

"You're probably imagining it," John said. "I think you're just worried about her." Rose shrugged.

"Perhaps."

Jade shivered uncontrollably. She couldn't figure out why she was so cold. And Bec was keeping his distance from her. She'd tried to pet him but he'd backed away from her.

"Are you okay Jade?" her grandpa asked.

"Yeah," Jade said. "I think I'll get some fresh air. I'll be right back."

"Don't go into the forest."

"I know." Jade grabbed her coat and stepped outside, while Bec stayed in the house and watched her from a window. She frowned at him and walked behind the house. As she walked she shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself. She took another step and collapsed. She gasped as heat spread through her entire body, pressing down on her like a thick blanket. The heat was soon replaced with pain and she screamed. She didn't realize how much the scream sounded like a wolf's howl.

Dave heard the werewolf's howl easily. They all did. They picked up their weapons and made their way down the street. They could hear it getting closer. It sounded young and inexperienced, that meant it would be easy to kill, but it also meant the werewolves were becoming a problem if they managed to bite someone. That or someone was just really unlucky.

The werewolf ran into sight. Her fur was a dark black and she stood barely taller than John. She spotted them and let out a loud howl. Dave ran up to her and held his gun up. One shot is all it would take. The werewolf charged at him and he took a deep breath. He looked her in the eyes. One shot…


	2. Chapter 2

Dave felt his gun slip out of his hands and the werewolf tackled him. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away from him as she snapped her jaw at his face. He heard John and Rose yell and saw Rose raise her gun.

"Don't shoot her!" Dave yelled and Rose froze. He shoved the werewolf back and she fell, but got back up quickly. She snarled at him and swiped with her claws and he ducked and backed up.

"Dave!" John yelled.

"Don't shoot her!" Dave repeated.

"But-"

"It's Jade!" John and Rose froze and looked at the werewolf. Rose gasped and Dave knew she'd seen her eyes. They were definitely Jade's eyes—she had a distinct discoloured spot along the edge of her left eye.

Jade howled and leapt at them again. Dave ducked and kicked her in the back of the head. Jade fell forward but didn't seem hurt or even stunned. She turned around and tackled Dave to the ground. He grabbed her shoulders but she pinned his arms to the ground. He swore and wrestled in her grip but he couldn't break free. She snarled and opened her mouth…but then she collapsed on him. He looked up and saw Rose holding her gun.

"You-"

"Tranquilizer dart," Rose said, gesturing at Jade. He looked at her and saw a small dart stuck in her neck. John and Rose bent down and lifted her up. John helped Dave up.

"Thanks Rose," Dave said. She nodded.

"You're welcome. And thank you for noticing it was Jade. We probably would have missed that." Dave nodded.

"What do we do now?" John asked.

"Let's take her to my house," Rose said. "It's closer, and we can give her grandfather a call when we get there."

Jade groaned. She had the worst headache ever, and she was so tired! She sighed and cracked her eyes open, then her eyes widened and she gasped and sat up.

She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in her bed. She was in Rose's house, on the couch. She glanced down at herself and saw that she wasn't in her own pajamas, she was in some of Rose's.

"You're awake!" Jade looked up and Rose ran over to her. "How do you feel? Are you okay?"

"I…I have a headache. And I'm totally exhausted. But what am I doing here?!"

"Calm down. Wait one second." Rose stood up and walked out of the room and returned a few seconds later with Dave and John.

"Are you okay?!" they both asked. Jade nodded quickly.

"Yeah, what's going on?" John and Dave stopped and turned to Rose. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked Jade in the eye.

"Jade, you were bitten by a werewolf." Jade gasped.

"What? What are you…no I wasn't!"

"Yes you were. You must have known."

"No…I really didn't…I…" Jade looked down at her hands. "How did you know?"

"We found you last night," Dave said.

"What?! Did I hurt anyone?!"

"No," Rose said. "And you're lucky Dave recognized you. I don't think John or I would have." Jade sniffed and felt tears well up in her eyes.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" she said. "I-I didn't mean to get bitten! I…" Her friends reached forward and hugged her.

"It's okay," Dave said.

"You'd been eager to go into the forest for a long time," Rose said. "I suspected you wouldn't listen to our warnings." Jade sniffed and nodded.

"I didn't think there would be so many."

"It's okay," they all said.

"You're still you," John said. Jade smiled and nodded.

"Thanks guys." The hug ended and they all leaned back.

"Does my grandpa know?" Jade asked.

"Yes," Rose said. "I gave him a call last night." Jade hung her head and sighed.

"He must be so disappointed in me." Rose patted her shoulder.

"I don't think so. He's probably just really worried about you."

"How about you have some breakfast," John said. "That'll cheer you up, right?" Jade nodded and stood up.

"Okay."

She followed them to the dining room. Rose's mom was in the living room dusting off some wizard statues. She smiled and waved to Jade as she walked past and Jade smiled back politely. She looked to Rose, who shook her head and she sighed with relief. She didn't want everyone to know she was a werewolf, she wasn't even sure if Rose's mom knew werewolves exist.

Jade sat at the table with a bowl of cereal. Her friends had already eaten but they sat with her and Dave tried rapping about cereal and Jade laughed until milk ran out of her nose. That made John laugh harder. After cleaning up Jade got dressed in some of Rose's clothes.

"I'll return them next chance I get," she said.

"Thank you," Rose said.

"You look better in bright colours," Dave commented. Rose smirked at him and Jade felt herself blush slightly. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Jade squeaked. Before the conversation could get any more awkward there was a knock at the door and Rose went to answer it.

"Jade!" she called. "It's your grandfather!" Jade ran over to the door and her grandpa embraced her in a hug.

"You're okay?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Good."

Jade's grandpa drove her home. She tried to apologize on the way but he told her she didn't have to. She was glad he wasn't mad, but she felt like she really had to apologize! She wished he would let her.

When they got home Bec tackled her and began sniffing her and licking her face. She laughed and scratched him behind the ears.

"Sorry for worrying you Bec," she said. Bec nuzzled her cheek and stepped off her. She stood up and walked inside. Her grandpa pulled out a first aid kit.

"Where did you get bitten?" he asked. Jade took her shirt off and showed him her left shoulder. The skin around the bite mark was turning purple and some puss was coming out of it. She sat down in a chair and her grandpa took care of the wound. She winced when he dabbed a damp wad of cotton over it but never complained. After cleaning it he bandaged her shoulder.

"Thanks grandpa," she said. Her grandpa nodded and smiled.

"You'll be fine Jade," he said. She nodded.

"Is the moon still full tonight?" Her grandpa pursed his lips and sighed.

"Unfortunately, werewolves don't need a full moon."

"What?!"

"As long as a moon is at least half full, they'll transform." Jade felt her face go pale.

"Don't worry, I have a solution." He rummaged in some cupboards and pulled out a chocker with a silver paw-print on the front. "If you wear this, the silver should keep you from transforming." She nodded and put the chocker on.

"Okay. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Do I have to stop hunting?"

"No. You can still hunt on nights when the moon is half full or less. Stay home on nights of the full moon just in case." He stood up and stretched. "You can go play with your friends today. Just be home before sunset." Jade smiled and nodded.

"Thanks. I will. Bye." She ran out of the house with Bec at her heels. She stopped at stared at the forest, but she shivered and kept walking. She would never go in there again.


	3. Chapter 3

"I hate graveyards," Dave commented.

"Well, that's too bad," Rose said. "That's where we have to go tonight."

"But-"

"Hey guys!" Jade said, running over. Dave noticed she was wearing a black choker with a silver paw-print on it. It looked great on her.

"Hey Jade!" John said. She grinned and sat next to him.

"So what are you talking about?" she asked.

"Dave apparently doesn't like graveyards," Rose said.

"Why?"

"Uh, they're fucking creepy!" Dave said.

"Not really, they're not."

"Yeah they are!"

"How'd this get brought up anyway?"

"There's been a risen sighting," Rose said. "Someone is clearly practicing Necromancy." Jade and John shivered and Dave almost did but stopped himself, that would have been really uncool.

"I don't see why someone would do that," Jade said.

"Uh, I thought it was so they could see some family member again," Dave said. "Or friend or whatever."

"That's the most common reason," Rose said. "Otherwise, someone does it to create an un-killable soldier."

"Creepy," Jade said.

"So we're going to go hunt it tonight. Are you able to come with us Jade?"

"Um, no. Grandpa says I can when the moon is half-full or less, just to be sure. I mean, we're not 100% sure this choker will work." She rubbed the silver paw-print as she spoke. Dave noticed her fingers were shaking slightly.

"I don't see why it wouldn't work," he said. "I mean, the silver's touching your skin, right?"

"Yeah."

"Dave's right," Rose said. "I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't work. Don't worry Jade." She smiled and nodded.

"Thanks guys."

The conversation then shifted to risen. Rose began to recite all she knew about them.

"Even with very strong Necromancy abilities, risen usually can't speak and often have very little intelligence," Rose said. "Only master Necromancers can create ones with intelligence and the ability to speak, and even then it can't say much and its intelligence is on the level of an eight-year-old. And no matter how strong the Necromancer, they cannot make a risen with memories of who it was when it was alive."

"So we're basically gonna go kill a really tall eight-year-old with amnesia that wants to eat our flesh?" Dave asked. Rose sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Dave, I said only master Necromancers can do that, and that's not what we're facing tonight."

"So…a toddler that-"

"Dave!"

"God, I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"We're talking about risen. Don't lighten the mood."

"Actually, I think it made the whole thing more enjoyable!" Jade said, grinning.

"Thank you Jade," Dave said.

"You're welcome!"

"Can I keep talking?" Rose asked.

"We're not stopping you," Dave said, shrugging his shoulders. Rose sighed and continued divulging her knowledge.

Jade didn't mind she wasn't going on the hunt. She understood why she couldn't, and she actually agreed with Dave that cemeteries could be creepy. But she was really worried about Dave. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if no one else noticed, but he seemed a bit on-edge.

No, it was probably just her imagination. She smiled and decided to ignore it. Dave would be fine. He could take care of himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Dave took a deep breath and sighed. The night air was cold and John was shivering. Rose had a pink scarf wrapped around her neck. Her cat Jaspers stood at her side. They both had an air of determination about them.

"Let's go," Rose said. Dave and John nodded and they started off. Dave clutched his sword tightly. He was _not_ nervous! He was just creeped out about going into a cemetery at night. That's all! He took a few (inconspicuous) deep breaths to calm himself down.

"There it is!" John whispered, pointing. Up ahead of them stood the graveyard. And roaming about the graveyard was a thin figure. Dave could hear him moaning and smell him from where he was standing. Jaspers hissed and shot after him.

"Jaspers, wait!" Rose exclaimed.

Jaspers landed on the risen and began to claw furiously at him. The risen didn't really react. He just grabbed Jaspers and chucked him across the graveyard.

"Jaspers!" Rose yelled, running after her cat.

"Dave, come on!" John said. Dave nodded and he and John ran at the risen.

He was definitely made by a weaker Necromancer. He only made the occasional grunting noise and was a bit slow. John and Dave were easily able to circle around him. John made a grab for him but he twisted his head all the way around and bit at him. John yelped and jumped back. Dave slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"Dave! Catch!" Rose called, tossing him a lighter. John pinned the risen to the ground while Dave lit up the lighter. The flame flickered to life. He stared at the flame and willed his hands not to shake. He shifted his gaze to the risen, but realized his mistake to late.

He could hear him in his head. He wasn't intelligent enough to speak, but he could hear his panic, his pleading not to be killed. Dave gasped and dropped the lighter. It landed on the risen's stomach. He screeched as he burst into flame. John jumped off him and pulled Dave back. Dave covered his ears, but it did no good. He could hear the risen's screams in his head.

John led him out of the graveyard with Rose following them. Dave shivered and scrunched his eyes shut. It wasn't until they were a few blocks away that John managed to get him to unplug his ears.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked. Dave nodded. "I admit its screeching was very disconcerting."

"Yeah, it was really creepy," John agreed, shivering.

"How's your cat?" Dave asked, looking at the furry black bundle in Rose's arms.

"He…he'll be alright," Rose said. "It's late. We should go to bed."

Normally Dave would have sarcastically called her mom, but he was too shaken up to do that. Instead he walked quietly home with them. They arrived at Rose's house first. Then John's. Once Dave was alone the crows flocked to him.

"Can't give me one night's peace?" he asked them. They cawed as a response. Dave sighed and kept walking. The crows could follow basic commands he gave them, like don't get too close to him when he's around other people. And don't crap on him if they perch on his shoulders, which two were doing (perching on his shoulder, not crapping on him. He'd have thrown them if they did that).

Dave could never get the crows to just leave him alone completely, he'd tried many times. He hoped Rose just assumed there were always lots of crows around because their town had a high amount of paranormal activity. He knew if she saw him with all the crows around him, she would make the connection. None of them could ever know his secret. Never.

Dirk was waiting for him when he got home.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"We torched it," Dave said.

"And?"

"It screamed." Dave leaned against the counter. "Loudly."

"You hungry?" Dave nodded. Dirk reached into the fridge and brought out some sort of leftover meat from supper. Dave was pretty sure it was chicken, but he couldn't remember.

"Pork tastes better," Dave said. "And beef." He ate the chicken while Dirk stood and watched him. It was annoying, but he'd learned to deal with it.

"So," Dirk said. "Have they…?"

"No." Dave wiped his hands on his pants. "I'm gonna watch some TV." Dirk nodded and walked to his room. Dave sat on the couch and turned the TV on.

He would never admit it, but going after risen scared him. He was always worried Rose would notice the crows, or how the risen communicated with him.

He had to be careful never to talk to the risen. He didn't want that to happen again. He was lucky none of the others had been there.

They couldn't know they would do whatever he told them to.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose quietly walked down to the basement. In one arm she carried Jaspers. In the other she carried a large black cloth bag. She avoided the creaky steps and made it down the stairs without waking her mother up. She entered the basement and shut the door behind her. She flicked the light switch, but the lights didn't work. She set Jaspers and her bag on the ground. She rummaged through her bag until she had her lighter and one of the candles. She lit the candle and set it on a nearby shelf. Then she got to work.

She checked the diagram in the book again. Then she took her black paint and paintbrush and painted it on the floor. Then she arranged the candles accordingly and lit them all. Next she set a small metal bowl in front of her and put a silver dagger next to it. Then she put Jaspers in the middle of the diagram. Poor Jaspers. Her poor, poor dead cat.

The spell she was using was not a normal Necromancy spell. She had found it a few days ago, before Jade became a werewolf. It involved communing with the evil gods for help. It was much more advanced Necromancy, but it was much more likely to work. Rose, of course, had never done something like this before. But she felt confident that she could do it.

She sat down. She took the knife and pricked her five fingers on her right hand. She held them over the bowl and let her blood drip into it. Then she began to chant.

The words weren't in English, and she'd had trouble memorizing them. But once she started the spell, she found them easy to say. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

Suddenly all the candles went out and the room was plunged into darkness. Rose held her breath and waited. She couldn't see them, but she could tell they were there. She heard them speak in her mind, and while she couldn't understand their words she understood what they were saying.

"I…I wish to bring my dead cat back from the dead," she said. She silently cursed herself for stuttering at the beginning. She couldn't afford to slip up.

Some of them laughed. Most of them didn't care and wanted to eat her. But a few were interested. Rose took a deep breath.

She listened to their words. She understood what they wanted of her. She nodded.

They swarmed around her. They wrapped their tentacles around her and breathed down her neck. She wanted to scream but couldn't open her mouth. She felt their ink soak into her skin. She shivered and writhed. They pressed closer to her and it was so very cold. She thought she would turn to ice.

Then they were gone, and the light was on. The candles were all blown out and the bowl had shattered. Her blood stained the old wooden floorboards. And Jaspers sat up, licking his paws. Rose smiled and picked him up.

"Thank goodness," she whispered. But she had no time to cuddle him. She ran upstairs as quietly as she could to her room. She set Jaspers down and began to rummage through the books lining the tall bookshelf that took up a whole wall of her room. She found the one she wanted tucked behind some others. It was small and incredibly old. The spine had a bit of mold growing on it and a few pages were missing.

Rose handled it very delicately. She carefully looked for the page they had described. After a minute she found it, near the back of the book. The inscription on it read:

 _The 17_ _th_ _Prophecy of the End Days_

The dead will turn

To the one who fears them

The wolf will grow

In the one who despises them

The evil will speak

With the one who defies them

And the storms will rage

Through the one who calls them

When the moon is full

And her power is high

The Lord of Necromancers

Will arrive to bring death

She will summon her General

And all the dead shall flock to him

And should her power be unleashed

The world will perish

In fire and death

Rose reread the prophecy multiple times. She took a deep breath and shut the book. She didn't understand it yet, but she would solve it. She couldn't let it come to pass.


	6. Chapter 6

John stared out the window at the storm raging outside. The winds shook the tree in the yard and sent trash can lids flying and garbage flying. Rain pelted against the window, blurring the view. Branches smacked against the window as they were blown out of the tree. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Whenever he wished there would be a storm, soon later there would be one. Was that his doing? He was pretty sure it was. It would make some sense, right? Lately, the storms had been coming faster too. Was that a good thing?

Staring out the window, John could feel wind stir inside him. It was very faint, there wasn't much in him. It hadn't been very windy lately. John was so tempted to open the window, but his dad didn't like him doing that. John was pretty sure his ability scared him. That's why he hadn't told his friends about it. He didn't want them to be scared of him.

But surely opening the window just a little wouldn't hurt, would it? John grinned and tugged the window. It opened a crack and immediately wind howled into the room. It surrounded John and lifted him off the ground. John laughed and felt the wind roll around him. He soaked it up like a sponge soaking up water. He saw the wind push his window open more and rain poured in with it. It drenched his pajamas and fogged up his glasses.

Then suddenly it stopped and John fell to the ground. He wiped his glasses and looked at the window. His dad stood there, frowning at him. John gasped and quickly stood up.

"I'm sorry dad, I just wanted to open the window a crack but the wind forced it open more, and-"

"Okay," his dad said, cutting him off. John shut his mouth and held his breath. His dad looked around the room and sighed. "Clean up this mess before you go to sleep," he said, gesturing at everything the wind had knocked over.

"Okay," John said. His dad walked over to the door, then stopped.

"And John?" He turned around and looked at him seriously. "Don't ever open the window again." John nodded and his dad left the room.

Once he was gone John got to work cleaning. The new wind and rain within him coursed through him. He let out some wind and picked up everything and began to put it where it belonged. He made sure not to use too much wind, or his dad would hear it. He also had to be careful not to use the rain as well. He didn't want to get anything more wet than it already was.

Cleaning everything took less than two minutes. Once that was done John smiled. He looked back out the window and saw that the storm had lessened somewhat. He must have absorbed more than he realized.

Sighing, he lay down in bed. Of course, he would have to wait a few hours for the fresh rain and wind to calm down a bit before he could get to sleep. But he could at least pretend if his dad came up to check on him, which he knew he would.

"Is it really so bad?" John wondered aloud. "It helps, doesn't it? I lessened the storm." But then John remembered he'd also brought the storm. He buried his face in his pillow and closed his eyes.

"I wish I didn't have this power," he whispered. "I just want to be normal. Like Rose and Dave. And my dad."

But John knew he would never be normal. Ever.


	7. Chapter 7

"I feel like we should start singing _We're off to see the wizard_ ," Jade said.

"This isn't a yellow-brick road Jade," Dave said, gesturing to the cracked concrete.

"And neither of us is a scarecrow or a lion or made of tin," John added. _Definitely not the scarecrow_ , Dave thought to himself, eyeing the crows that were perched in trees and on telephone poles.

"Whatever, I just felt like we should sing it!" Jade pouted and rolled her eyes at them. Dave noticed that since she'd become a werewolf her eyes had a more wolfish look to them. They were actually really pretty. _Whatever. That's just something friends notice about each other._

A few minutes later they arrived at Rose's. She greeted them carrying Jaspers in her arms.

"Hello," she said. Jaspers looked up at them.

" _Ooh! It's Rose's friends!_ " he said. Dave did a double-take. _Did he just talk?!_

"Come in," Rose said, stepping aside. John and Jade walked inside as if nothing had happened, which meant they hadn't heard Jaspers. _Okay, am I going insane then? Because cats don't normally talk—wait a minute!_

" _Did any of you bring me tuna?_ " Jaspers asked. That's when Dave realized Jaspers's voice was inside his head. _Oh my god. He's undead. He died and Rose brought him back to life. Wait, but his eyes are…okay but there's no other way I could hear him so…Rose put contact lenses on him?! God, what the hell is going on now?!_

Dave walked calmly with his friends to Rose's room. He kept his poker face on and gave no sign whatsoever that he could understand what Jaspers was saying. But inside he was panicking. Just being in the same room as Jaspers was freaking him out. He was paranoid Rose would notice and figure out his secret. She was the last person he wanted to figure it out.

"Okay, so we're studying, right?" Jade asked. "School or supernatural?"

"School, sorry," Rose said. "We don't want to fail now, do we?"

"Fiiine," Jade whined. She and John sat down and Rose got some textbooks out.

"I gotta go to the bathroom first," Dave said. Rose sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Be fast," she said. Dave nodded and walked out of the room. Once he was down the hall he sent a mind-message to Jaspers.

" _Come with me._ "

" _Are we going to get fish?_ "

" _Sure, I'll give you some fish after you help me out._ "

A few seconds later Jaspers came trotting up to him. He purred and looked up at him expectantly.

" _I'll give you fish in a minute,_ " Dave said. " _Can you answer some questions for me?_ " Of course he wasn't going to talk out loud in case Rose's mom heard him.

" _Sure!_ "

" _You died, didn't you?_ "

" _I don't know, I might have._ "

" _What do you remember happening after we went after that risen yesterday night?_ "

" _I woke up on the floor and there was a strange drawing on it. There were a bunch of unlit candles too. Rose gave me a hug._ " Jaspers purred fondly as he said the last bit.

" _Where was this?_ "

" _The basement._ "

" _Can you show me where that is?_ "

" _Sure! Will I get fish after that?_ "

" _Yeah, I'll grab you some from the kitchen once I'm done with this._ "

" _Oh boy! Follow me!_ "

Dave followed Jaspers downstairs and down a hallway he'd never even noticed before. They soon came to a set of stairs. Jaspers bounded down them, avoiding a few of the steps. Dave avoided them too, just to be on the safe side. He had to be fast though. He figured he had maybe another minute before Rose came looking for him.

" _In here!_ " Jaspers called. Dave walked into the room and flicked the lights on. What he saw took the breath out of him.

It was the same diagram drawn on the floor. The candles arranged in the same way. And the broken bowl and the blood stain. Memories began to flash before Dave's eyes: Dirk calling his name, the evil gods' garbled language, pain, her smile, the crows, the-

Dave gasped and collapsed against the wall. He clutched his head and willed the memories to stop. He didn't want to think about it. He wished he could just forget what had happened. But he never could. The crows were always there, a constant reminder.

"What are you doing here?!" Dave felt Rose grab his arms and drag him up the stairs. She kept mumbling "You saw nothing, you saw nothing, you saw nothing!"

"I saw nothing," Dave agreed. He could hardly hear himself. He was aware of Jaspers calling after him about fish, and he might have mumbled a response, but he wasn't sure. He didn't snap out of it until Jade touched his cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Dave blinked. Her hand was nice and warm against his skin, which he realized had become colder than normal. Her eyebrows were knit together with worry and there was just a small hint of fear in her wolfish eyes. Dave immediately decided they didn't look as good like that.

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

"You sure?" John asked. "You look like you might puke." Dave swallowed and wished John hadn't said that.

"Yeah, I'm definitely fine."

"In light of this, I think we should skip studying," Rose said. John and Jade cheered. "We'll go outside instead. I'll get lemonade."

"Alright! Come on Dave!" Jade grabbed his arm and dragged him along with her and John. As they passed by Rose, she gave him a steely glare. He got the message: don't breathe a word of what you saw. Dave didn't intend to. But he was definitely questioning her later. He wanted to know what the evil gods had said to her, and why they'd let her live.

But before he could do that, he had to frolic with John and Jade. He didn't mind. He could do that all day if they asked him to.

" _Fish?_ " Jaspers asked, looking up at Dave.

" _Later Jaspers,_ " Dave responded. " _I gotta play with these two a bit._ "

" _Play! That's fun! I'll join you!_ "

Dave briefly wondered if Jaspers could smell the wolf on Jade. Then he got spun around in a circle and stopped wondering. He just focused on the sound of Jade's laughter instead.


	8. Chapter 8

Jade grinned and flopped on the ground next to Dave. They were all out of breath from running and laughing. Jade stretched her arms and brushed Dave's cheek with her fingers. She quickly drew her hand away and instead her hands rested at her side. She glanced at Dave.

She would be lying if she said she didn't maybe have a small crush on him. Okay, maybe more than a small one. It had started when she saw him on the first day of school that year. He looked…different. He'd changed somehow over the summer, she could tell. He looked paler, not in a bad way though, and the way he stood and walked was different. He looked more…powerful. And it wasn't just his appearance that had changed. His smell had too.

Even before she became a werewolf Jade had a good sense of smell. She knew how her friends smelled when she was close to them. Dave used to smell like apple juice, sunshine and fresh air. He still smelled like apple juice, but it was a bit faded. Now he smelled like cold air—the kind you smell first thing in the morning, wet concrete (a smell Jade actually loves) and something else Jade couldn't put her finger on. It was an odd smell. Sometimes it was nice, sometimes it was bad, but most of the time she couldn't even smell it properly. It drove her nuts if she focused on it, so she preferred not to.

Dave placed his hand near hers, which jarred her back to reality. She looked at his hand and wished she could hold it. She couldn't believe she'd actually touched his face earlier, but she had been worried about him and that made it not awkward or something. His skin had been surprisingly cold, but Jade kind of liked it. It was a good balance for her warm skin (an effect of being a werewolf).

"This looks like a good time for lemonade," Rose said, holding out a tray of four cups. Jade and John immediately sat up and snatched theirs. Dave got up at a normal pace and got his cup. Rose sat down with them and they drank their lemonade.

"Mmm!" Jade said. "Lemonade on sunny days is the best!"

"Yeah!" John cheered.

"It's not apple juice," Dave complained. Rose kicked his leg.

"You're welcome," she said.

"Don't start fighting you guys," Jade said.

"Come on Jade, you know I could kick her ass!"

"I wouldn't bet on that." Rose smiled and cracked her knuckles.

"Let's just keep drinking our lemonade!" Jade said quickly, waving her hands in front of their faces. Rose sighed and sipped her lemonade. Dave muttered something about apple juice and chugged his. He showed no reaction whatsoever to swallowing a bunch of sour lemonade.

"How'd you do that?" John asked.

"Do what?"

"Chug that and be fine. Rose doesn't add much sugar to her lemonade."

"Oh. I didn't notice."

"How?!"

"It's not apple juice."

"That answer doesn't even work!"

"Sure it does. It's the answer to everything."

"No it's not!"

"Shoosh John."

"Bye the way Dave," Rose said. "What did you do over the summer?" Jade and John both looked at Dave. Jade thought she saw him flinch, but she probably imagined it.

"Pretty much nothing," Dave said.

"Yes, I suspected that. But where did you go?"

"A kinda run-down town with no internet connection."

"Why?!" John and Jade exclaimed.

"I have no clue! Don't ask me!"

"And you did nothing there?" Rose asked.

"There was no internet. What could I have done?"

"Let me educate you on the older forms of entertainment."

"Oh fuck."

Rose then spent twenty minutes telling Dave about all the things he could have been doing while there. Dave looked like he was trying hard not to listen, but with Rose that was a hard thing to do. She had a very noticeable voice.

"Also, where was this town? I would like to go there so I can do everything you didn't," Rose added.

"I dunno."

"What was it called?"

"I dunno."

"Do you remember anything about it?!"

"Nah. It was too boring."

"Really?" John asked.

"What did you think would interest me there?"

"Uh…I dunno. A cute girl?" Jade swore she saw Dave flinch that time. She bit her tongue to keep from yelling something.

"John, if I'd run into a cute girl, I would have mentioned her by now."

"It was just a thought."

"Well then," Rose cut in. "If Dave's done sharing, I'd like to hear what you did John."

"Why haven't we asked these questions sooner?" Jade asked. "It's been a month since school started."

"Let's blame it on Dave."

"Hey!"

"Go on John, tell us what you did over the summer."

They spent the rest of their time at Rose's talking about summer vacation. John and his dad went to a family reunion, where he got to meet his relatives. He also pranked the hell out of them with the help of his cousin.

Jade talked about her trip to Hawaii with her grandpa. It had been a lot of fun, but for some reason Jade hadn't gotten a tan at all. Dave pointed out she would look a bit weird with dark skin. Rose told him to shut up and let Jade keep talking.

Rose had stayed in town over summer break. She'd worked on getting rid of anything out of the ordinary, including a few risen and werewolves. Then she started telling them funny stories about Jaspers.

When it was time to go home, Jade's cheeks were sore from laughing at Rose's funny stories and Dave's sarcastic comments. She kept grinning while her grandpa drove her home.

"You had a fun time?" he asked.

"Yep!" Jade smiled and leaned back. She closed her eyes and yawned. She was soon fast asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

"All right Dave," Rose said. She shut her bedroom door and crossed her arms. "What is it?"

"You brought your dead cat back to life."

"Yes."

"You contacted the evil gods just to bring your dead cat back to life!"

"Yes. How do you know about the evil gods?"

"I read about them in a book at that boring-ass town."

"So you did do something while there."

"You think I'm gonna admit to John and Jade I read?"

"And what did the book tell you?"

"It told me that the evil gods won't necessarily do what you ask of them, and they're more likely to kill you. Why the hell did they let you live?!"

"I wasn't aware of that, but I had a suspicion. I also had a suspicion that I was meant to do that."

"What?"

Rose crossed the room to her bookshelf. She reached behind two large black books and pulled out a small faded red one. Written on it in peeling gold letters was "The Book of Prophecies". Rose opened it and flipped through a few pages.

"Here," she said. Dave looked over her shoulder.

"The seventeenth prophecy of the end days," he read aloud. He read the prophecy and felt his blood go cold. Or, colder than usual. Whatever.

"Okay. What's this about?" he asked. He tucked his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were shaking.

"The evil gods told me about this prophecy," Rose said.

"Why? If they're evil, don't they want the world to end?"

"It's not that simple. They would be delighted if that happened, but they don't want it to be boring."

"So they want to watch us try to stop it, then fail?"

"Yes, that's one way of looking at it. But mostly, I think it's just a game to them. They don't care who wins."

"Uh, so basically we can't win?"

"That's not necessarily true. It will just be difficult."

"Great."

Memories were on the verge of flashing back to Dave, and he held them down as best as he could. He gulped and tried focusing on Rose's perfume. It smelled like lavenders. Heck, her whole room smelled like lavender.

"So…what does it mean?" Dave asked. "Besides the end of the world."

"Well…I could be wrong, but I'm quite certain it's talking about us here." Rose traced her finger down the first eight lines.

"Why would they be about us? And which are you, the evil one?" Rose glared at him.

"It doesn't say evil one. It says "The evil will speak with the one who defies them" and yes, that's me. The evil gods spoke to me."

"And then I guess Jade's the wolf?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Do you know which one you are Dave?" Dave gulped and didn't meet her eyes. He could feel her gaze, the way she was daring him to admit his secret.

"I got no clue," Dave lied.

"I see." Rose shut the book and hid it away. "Please don't tell John and Jade about this yet. I want to think about it some more first."

"Sure. I guess I'll go now."

"Alright." Dave turned and walked out of Rose's room. He walked out of the house as quickly as he could without making it look like he was running away. Once he was outside, he bolted down the street.

"Holy shit," he gasped. "Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit!" Crows flocked around him and tried to land on his shoulders in vain. He kept running until he got home.

"You okay?" Dirk asked when he collapsed on the couch. Dave nodded, gasping for breath. "What happened?"

"Well, first off, I can now speak to Rose's cat." It took a few seconds for Dirk to get what he was saying.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Is he…?"

"Yeah."

"Did she…?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"…Yeah."

"Bullshit. Did you have a panic attack?"

"I calmed down!"

Dirk sighed and shook his head. Dave scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. He was calming down a bit at least.

"Okay, then what else?"

"The evil gods told Rose about a prophecy in a book of hers."

"Okay?"

Dave recited the prophecy, which he'd memorized. He saw Dirk turn a bit paler.

"You mean…?"

"Yeah."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah."

"Did you tell her?"

"No!"

"Good." Dirk patted Dave's shoulder. "Don't worry, this'll work out somehow."

Dave didn't believe him. He couldn't see how the hell things were going to be okay for him. He could still remember her laugh and the pain and the blood and the screaming. But he'd never been sure who had been screaming. He didn't really care anymore. He just hoped it was him screaming. He didn't want to have hurt anyone else. Not Dirk, and not _her_. Never.


	10. Chapter 10

John fidgeted in his spot. Rain pounded against the window, blurring the view of the forest. He wondered how Jade could stand having a bedroom that overlooked it. But she didn't seem bothered as she sat by the window. Dave was lying on his stomach and balancing his pencil on his nose. Rose was lost in thought. They were supposed to be doing their homework, but only Jade was. John glanced over her shoulder. Okay, nope. She was doodling.

John sighed and stared out the window. He could feel the storm calling to him, beckoning him outside. He clenched his hands and rested his faced against the window. His breath fogged up the glass and he doodled aimlessly in it.

"John?" He jumped and looked at Rose.

"Huh? What?"

"Do you want to go play in the rain?" John wanted to shout _Heck yeah!_ but at the same time he wanted to say no and stay inside. He kept thinking about what his dad always said to him: don't go out in the storm.

"You'll catch a cold if you go out in that weather," Jade said, frowning out the window.

"I'm sure John would be fine," Rose said. John stared at her. Did she know?

"You gonna go frolic the rain Egderp?" Dave asked.

"Um…" John looked out the window longingly. "…Can you promise not to tell my dad?"

"Of course," Rose said. Jade looked confused but she nodded. Dave gave him a thumbs-up.

John stopped caring about them knowing. He opened the window and jumped out. Jade and Dave yelled at him but he just grinned and used the wind to lift himself up. It howled around him and the rain soaked through his clothes. He laughed and spun in the air. The rain and wind filled him up and he drank greedily. It was like having a huge feast of all your favourite foods, but better because he could hold more rain and wind than he could eat food.

He lost track of time as he soared over the trees and around Jade's house. He splashed the windows and did backflips over the garden. He laughed and laughed. He felt so _free_. He didn't think at all of what his dad would think or what his friends probably thought. He just kept soaking up water and wind.

"John!" Jade called. "You've been out there for two hours! Come back inside!" John frowned. Had it really been that long? It felt like five minutes. He sighed and flew back in through the window.

Rose immediately wrapped John in towels. Dave stared at him.

"Thanks," John said.

"How come _you_ get to fly?!" Dave said. Rose smacked him with her book.

"Dave!" she snapped. John just laughed.

"You don't think it's weird?" he asked. "Or scary?"

"No, I think it's awesome and why the hell can't I do that?! All I can do is-" Dave stopped.

"What? What can you do?" John asked, sounding curious.

"Nothing," Dave answered quickly. "Ab-so-lu-te-ly nothing!"

"Calm down Dave," Jade said. "You're fine the way you are."

"But seriously, John flies, Jade's a wolf and Rose has that book of prophecies and b-"

"DAVE!" Rose punched him in the arm; hard enough that he fell on the ground.

"Oww," he said. He looked up at her and froze. She was glaring at him and she was starting to glow a black aura. It was faint, and John and Jade probably hadn't noticed it yet.

"Aura," Dave hissed. She looked confused. "Black aura. Calm down. It's the anger." Rose's eyes widened and she calmed down. The black aura disappeared.

"Sorry Dave," she said. "But I believe I told you not to talk about it."

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry."

"You have a book of prophecies?" Jade asked. "What's it say?!"

"Nothing that's immediately important at this present moment," Rose replied. Dave rolled his eyes. "I asked Dave not to mention it to you because I don't want you two reading it."

"Why not?!"

"Because it's mine!"

"Okay, calm down!" Rose took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sorry. I'm a bit short-tempered today."

"That's okay, we all get that," John said. He finished towelling off and grinned. "What should we do now?"

"Well, the storm's just about stopped," Jade said.

"Yeah, I absorbed a lot of it," John said.

"You absorbed it?!"

"Uh, yeah. Don't tell my dad, he doesn't like it when I do that."

"We won't, don't worry," Rose said.

"Why don't you just stay and have a sleepover here?" Jade asked. "I'll ask my grandpa if it's okay."

"Sounds cool," Dave said.

"I'm sure my mom won't mind," Rose said.

"I'll call my dad," John said.

"Okay!" Jade stood up and ran out of her room, calling for her grandpa. Dave texted Dirk to tell him he was staying at Jade's. He turned his phone off before Dirk could give some perverted comeback.

"Grandpa's cool with it!" Jade said, running back inside.

"My dad's okay with it too," John said. Rose smiled and nodded. Jade cheered.

"Great! This'll be fun!"

"Or a disaster," Dave said.

"Shush!"

Dave smiled and ruffled her hair. It was really soft. He absent mindedly ran his fingers through it.

"Your hair's really long," he said.

"Um, thanks?" Jade squeaked.

Before Dave could say something else, John threw a pillow in his face.

"Oh you did not!"

"The best sleepovers have pillow fights!" John said.

"Oh it's on!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for not updating for so long, I've been studying for exams like crazy (ugh...). I've got one down and only two more to go so I should be posting more often soon.**

John had the unfair advantage of using wind to attack with multiple pillows at once. The whole pillow fight wound up being gang-up-on-John, but he still did fine. After an hour everyone collapsed on the floor (except John, who still had a bunch of energy from absorbing the storm.)

"That was fun!" John said, hovering above them.

"Speak for…yourself," Jade said, gasping for air. Dave nodded. John just grinned and twirled in the air. Dave felt a bit jealous watching him. John had a place where he could use his powers and no one cared. He had some freedom. But not Dave. He couldn't let his friends know what he was, what he could do, what he would do and what he had done.

"What now?" Jade asked.

"Let's watch a scary movie!" John said.

"They're never scary," Rose said, rolling her eyes. But they all sat up and Jade turned on Netflix. One of their favourite activities was to watch horror movies and laugh at everything they got wrong and be impressed when they got something right (but that rarely ever happened.) After a few minutes they settled on a zombie movie. _Oh great._

Dave did his best to watch the movie, but it wasn't easy sometimes. No matter what, if the zombies looked dead, they looked accurate. It wasn't that he was scared of them, it just bothered him to see them. A lot.

So instead he passed the time by observing his friends. John spent the whole movie hovering in the air, grinning like a little kid on his birthday. Rose sat calmly and commented as she always did on practically everything in the movie. She seemed to have calmed down. And Jade sat with her legs crossed and leaning forward just a bit, revealing how much she was enjoying the movie. Her glasses reflected the screen and Dave found that it was easier to watch the movie that way.

He got so lost in thought staring at her eyes he didn't realize the movie was over until Rose said "That was quite terrible."

"It was a good story though," Jade said. "Right Dave?"

"Uh, yeah," Dave said. _I wonder what the story was._

"You weren't even watching, were you?" Rose asked.

"Sure I was."

"No you weren't."

"Did you fall asleep?" Jade asked. "You sound tired." _No I don't._

"Yeah, I could fall asleep right now," Dave lied. He couldn't fall asleep at that moment if he would get a million bucks for it.

"Then I think it's time for us to go to bed," Rose said.

"Yes _mom_ ," Dave replied. Rose kicked him in the shin.

None of them had actually brought pajamas with them so they just slept in their clothes. Dave of course lay there listening to his friends' soft breathing. John was floating a few inches above his sleeping bag. Rose lay perfectly still on her back, so she almost looked like she was dead. Dave didn't really want to look at that so he rolled over. Jade was lying next to him. She'd refused to sleep in her bed and instead joined them all on the floor with sleeping bags. She was lying on her side with her hands curled up next to her face. Some strands of hair fell across her forehead and she was breathing peacefully.

Dave could feel her warmth radiating off her. He assumed it was a cause of becoming a werewolf. He liked it. He crawled closer to her and breathed in that warmth. He wanted it. He had been robbed of warmth during the summer. He pressed himself close to her and shut his eyes. He smiled as her warmth spread through his body. He knew it would stop when he wasn't this close to her, but he didn't care. He planned to savor that warmth for as long as he could.

Jade always had a terrible time sleeping when there was a full moon. So like always she woke up in the middle of the night. And for some reason Dave was really close to her. She squeaked in surprise, then covered her mouth with her hand. But Dave didn't move so she hadn't woken him. She breathed a sigh of relief and set her hand down.

He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Jade wondered if he was stressed about something. He seemed more…relaxed now. She smiled and stroked his cheek. Then she drew her hand away and blushed when she realized what she was doing.

"This is hopeless," she whispered to herself. _He's never going to like me back. What am I thinking?!_ Jade glanced at him and sighed. _I'm thinking about how amazing he looks, and how much I'd love to kiss him._ She blushed and covered her face with her hands. _Stupid! Don't think things like that! Not that he can read minds, but still!_ Jade gulped and closed her eyes. She'd feel better if she got to sleep.

 _Um, what? Does she have a crush on me or something?_ Dave rolled his eyes. _No, that's dumb. Why would she? That was just a normal friend thing. Like it's normal that I notice her eyes look pretty. See? Friend things! Actually, her skin looks really great in the moonlight too._ Dave was about to stroke her cheek, but stopped himself. He could tell she was still awake. She'd thought he was asleep.

 _Okay, first of all, she does_ not _have a crush on me! And I do_ not _have a crush on her! Obviously! …Who the hell am I even arguing with?_ Dave sighed. His life just kept getting more and more complicated. He wished he could get to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi, I'm back. Exams went well last week and now I'm back to updating more regularly! Thanks for waiting and keep enjoying the story please.**

"We've got another hunt," Rose said.

"Holy crap, we're still eating breakfast," Dave said. "Will you slow down?"

"I don't see why you're complaining, you've already eaten."

"They're still eating."

"I don't mind if Rose talks," John said.

"And one apple is not enough for breakfast!" Jade said. "Eat something else."

"No."

"Dave!"

"You're not my mom Harley."

"I noticed that!"

"If you two could finish quickly, I could keep talking," Rose said. Jade stuck her tongue out at Dave and turned back to Rose.

"So what's our mission captain?" she asked.

"There's been another risen sighting."

"Another?!" John exclaimed. "What's with all the risen? Usually there's just a couple spread out over two or three months."

"I can only assume something is happening," Rose said. Dave stared at her and she gave a faint nod John and Jade didn't notice. Dave clenched his jaw. _The prophecy._ It was always on his mind while he lay in bed, unable to sleep. It tormented his thoughts when he wasn't doing anything. He kind of wished he'd never found out about it.

"Well, I can come hunting with you guys this time!" Jade said, grinning.

"Good to hear," Rose said. "We'll head out at dusk."

Throughout the day, Dave kept debating between going with them or staying home. By the time it was dusk, he decided to go with them. He couldn't really think up an excuse that wouldn't sound like he was scared. Which he wasn't. He was just paranoid.

They walked quietly to the cemetery. Jaspers wasn't with them that time. Rose had decided to leave him at home. She claimed she didn't want him injured like last time. _Yeah, "injured". Bullshit, you just don't want to accidentally light him on fire._

"Okay," Rose said, snapping Dave out of his thoughts. He realized with a start they'd arrived at the graveyard. "We'll split up to cover more ground. Each of you has a lighter, right?" They all nodded and held up theirs. Dave focused to keep his hand from shaking. "Alright. Dave, take the west side of the graveyard. John, you're the east. Jade's north and I'm taking the southern end. Ready?"

"Let's just get this over with," Dave said. Rose frowned at him.

"Fine."

"On your marks, get set, go!" Jade said. She and John took off running. Dave jogged at a slower pace. Rose was walking.

Dave immediately set his senses on high alert. He strained for any indication of where the risen could be. After a few seconds he sensed one…no, two. He gulped and quietly made his way towards them. He was trying to decide whether or not it was lucky they were in the western section when he found them.

They were brought back pretty poorly. Their bodies were starting to fall apart and Dave could sense they couldn't talk. There was a boy and a girl. They were bent over the carcass of a dog. Dave checked and was relieved to see it wasn't Bec. Jade would kill them if they were eating her dog. _Okay, she'll still kill them if she sees them._

The boy seemed to be in better condition than the girl. As she was eating, her only remaining hand fell off. She bent down and bit into the carcass. She chewed and swallowed. The boy tore a chunk off and fed it to her. He kept doing that while they ate, and he stroked her hair while he did it too. Dave stared at them, his mouth hanging open. He had never seen risen do that.

"Dave!" Jade called, making Dave jump. "Did you find them?!" _Damn it Harley!_ The risen looked up at the direction of Jade's voice and they're eyes got wide.

"Not yet! You keep looking!" Dave called. The risen jumped and stared at him.

"I've finished my section. I'll come help you look!" _Shit!_ "Rose is coming too, okay?!" _Double shit!_

"Run!" Dave hissed to the risen. They stood up, but hesitated. "Run! They're going to burn you!" The boy bent down and grabbed the carcass. "Forget that! Just get out of here! I'll bring it to you later, okay?!" The risen turned and began to run. Dave breathed a sigh of relief. He shouldn't have relaxed.

A flaming lighter hit the boy in the head. He screamed and collapsed. The girl howled and grabbed a rock, using her arms to hold it. Rose came into view. The girl threw the rock at her, but she dodged easily. Before Dave could do anything Jade appeared and lit her on fire. She screamed and collapsed to the ground. Dave stared at them, feeling like he was going to puke. He blinked and grabbed a tree next to him to steady himself. _Oh crap. Crapcrapcrapcrap!_

"Dave?" John said, walking up to him. _When did he get here?_ "You okay?"

"I-" Dave turned away from John and puked. "Fuck!"

"You should have told us you weren't feeling well," Rose said. "No wonder you weren't chasing after them." She gave an accusing glare at the dead dog. _Bullshit. You know that's not why I'm puking!_

"Aw Dave," Jade said. She reached over and patted his head.

"I'm not a dog," he mumbled quietly. Jade either didn't hear him or didn't care. Dave didn't bother repeating himself. He waited a few minutes until he was sure he wouldn't puke again.

"I'm good now," he said.

"Then let's get you home," Rose said.

"I can walk home myself, thanks."

"You're sure?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry."

After reassuring them a few more times he managed to walk away towards home. The crows flocked to him and he sighed.

"Can't leave me alone for one day?" he asked. A big fat one on his left shoulder cawed in his ear. "Yeah I know, the one thing I can't get you guys to do."

When he arrived home the crows converged on the house. Dave rolled his eyes and walked inside. He slammed the door and took a deep breath.

"You okay?" Dirk asked.

"Yeah," Dave said. "I puked, but I'm okay now."

"What happened?"

"Two risen," Dave said. "They…" Dave gulped. He told Dirk about the way the boy fed the girl and cared for her because her body was falling apart. He told him about Rose and Jade burning them and how he puked.

"Maybe you shouldn't hunt risen with them," Dirk said.

"No. I need to go with them. I might be able to save them next time."

"Dave-"

"Shut up. I know what you're gonna say, so just shut up. I'm going with them next time."

"How do you know there's going to be a next time?"

"I can feel it." Dave gulped and clenched his hands. "They're coming slowly, but soon there'll be a whole lot here."

"Shit," Dirk whispered.

"I can deal with it," Dave said. "I can get them to leave. They'll do whatever I say."

"I don't want you near them."

"Why not?!"

"It's dangerous."

"I'll be fine. It'll take a hell of a lot more than a bunch of risen to do me in."

Dave and Dirk stared at each other for a good five minutes. Dirk sighed and shook his head.

"Fine," he said. "But every time you face a risen, you tell me what happens."

"Fine." Dave walked past him to his room. He sat on the floor and curled up into a ball. _It's okay. They don't know. It'll be okay. I can deal with this._

"Stop," Rose said. Jade and John stopped walking and looked at her.

"What is it?" Jade asked.

"Have you noticed anything…different about Dave?"

"Yeah," Jade said. "He's a bit paler and he looks more powerful. Plus he smells different: like wet concrete, cold air, apple juice and…something else."

"What?" Rose asked.

"I dunno. It's a weird smell; I can't focus on it for very long." Jade shrugged. "It's probably nothing though. What about you John?"

"Well, he seemed a bit different when we came back to school," John said. "But I've never really been able to pinpoint what exactly is different about him. So I just assumed it was my imagination."

"Well, it's not," Rose said. "Something happened, and I'm trying to find out what. Please keep an eye on him for me."

"Isn't that kind of an invasion of privacy?" Jade asked.

"I'm trying to find out so that I'll know his limits. If he's more powerful, then I have to know so that I won't hold him back unnecessarily. But I also don't want to let him get into situations that could prove fatal. Trust me, I have only his well-being at heart right now."

"I believe you," Jade said. "And I'll keep an eye on him. I'm a bit worried about him too. He seems nervous whenever we go to the graveyard to kill risen."

"Yes, I've noticed that," Rose said.

"Here's my house!" John said. "Bye guys!"

"Bye."

A few minutes later Rose turned a corner while Jade kept walking straight. They waved goodbye and Rose was left with her thoughts.

 _He was trying to let those risen escape. And he seemed to think he would be able to find them again later. Could they be his? No, he would have ordered them to stay away from the graveyard. And they were so poorly made; I can't picture Dave having such low powers. Jade's right, he's quite powerful now. But how powerful is he? I have to find out what happened. He needs to know it doesn't matter. It's like Jade and John, we don't care what they can do or what they are. They're still our friends._

Rose bit her lip and frowned. "I might have to talk to them," she whispered. "Maybe they'll know what happened."

She didn't like talking to the evil gods too much, but she had a puzzle to solve. She would do almost anything to solve it.


	13. Chapter 13

Rose frowned at her smoothie, swirling her straw through it vigorously. The evil gods had told her nothing. All they'd said was that Dave was quite powerful, and that she would discover what had happened to him in due time. _They are gods. I shouldn't expect straight answers from them. Still, a clue would have been very helpful._

"Guuuuuys," John whined, walking up to them.

"What took you so long?" Jade asked. "Class started ten minutes ago. You're lucky the teacher doesn't care when you're late."

"There's a poltergeist in my room."

"What?!" they all exclaimed.

"How do you know?" Dave asked.

"Well, stuff kept flying at my face and then they took my pencil and started drawing on my posters and I'm really worried they're trashing my room right now but I didn't manage to pretend to be sick so I still have to go to school."

"We'll check on it during lunch," Rose said. "You're lucky it's an open campus."

"Yeah." John sighed with relief and smiled.

"Why does all the weird stuff happen to us?" Dave asked.

"Because it's our destiny," Rose answered.

"Haw-haw. Very funny."

"I was being serious."

"Oh. You believe in that destiny bullshit?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

"No. I control my own god-damn life thanks very much."

"If you say so."

"I think I'm gonna agree with Dave," Jade said. "I'd rather believe it wasn't preordained that I become a werewolf."

"I didn't think of that," Rose said. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"Oh, you didn't! Don't worry!" Jade smiled. "I'm fine."

"I'm glad." _But it was preordained Jade. It's in the prophecy._ Rose was now even less eager to share the prophecy with Jade and John. They didn't want to believe they were meant to be like they were. Of course, Rose suspected Dave felt the same way, but he was better at coping with it.

When lunch came they all walked quickly to John's house. His dad's car was gone so they were safe from getting John in trouble. They walked quietly up to his room and Rose rummaged through her bag for things to use against ghosts. She noticed Dave lagged behind and tried to sneak off a few times. _So he's like this with ghosts too? It seems my suspicions might be correct._ She couldn't see a reason they wouldn't be, but she wanted to be sure before she confronted him.

"Okay," John said. "Let's see if it's still there." He opened his bedroom door and they all walked inside. His room looked normal enough, aside from the drawings of skulls done on every available inch of wall.

"Aw man!" he exclaimed, staring at the drawings. "I'll have to erase those before dad sees them."

"So, where's the ghost?" Dave asked. Rose frowned at him. _Are his hands shaking?_ He quickly tucked them in his pockets and looked around innocently.

"Um, John?" Jade said. "There's writing on your computer."

"What?" They all looked at John computer and saw white text appearing on the black screen. "But…I turned it off."

"Well, let's see what the ghost says," Rose said, walking over. They all crowded around the computer to read.

Hello! Sorry for the inconvenience, I'll be going now! I just needed to get your attention to deliver a message! It's a special message, so don't go telling everyone about it! If you do, I'll have to come back again to scold you! Anyway, here's my message:

The stars are always brightest here, aren't they? It's my favourite spot to look at them.

Bye now!

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jade asked.

"Beats me," John said. "Where are the stars really bright?"

"I'm not sure," Rose said. "Dave, do you have an idea?"

"Nope," Dave said quickly. Rose frowned at him.

"You're sure?"

"Why would I know? Come on, I'd expect you to get the weird message from a dead person."

"Well, it's not for me."

"Yeah, it's not for me either."

"Maybe it's a clue?" Jade said. "Something to do with all the risen?"

"Or she's trying to mess with us," Dave said.

"Yes, that is possible." _'She' hmm? So it's someone you know._

"Oh well, we should probably get back," John said. "Before lunch ends."

"First, let's erase the drawings off the walls," Jade said.

"Good idea."

Getting rid of the drawings only took five minutes. They all hurried back to school and ate their lunch. Rose kept a close eye on Dave the whole time. She was very curious about who the ghost was.

Dave could hardly sit still for the rest of school. He kept glancing at the clock, wishing it would go faster. He was relieved to see John and Jade didn't notice how he was acting, but Rose was constantly watching him. His paranoia was pretty much shot through the roof.

The bus ride home was a bit more manageable, since he was going home and not stuck unmoving in a classroom. He was sitting next to Jade while John and Rose discussed the ghost. Dave was able to focus on Jade and take his mind off the message left on John's computer. Her leg was lightly touching his, and her warmth flooded through it. The tension left him and he relaxed. He set his hands down, which had been playing with the zipper on his jacket, and accidentally brushed his hand across Jade's. Her hands were especially warm and he almost held hers when he remembered that would make them look like a couple. He noticed Jade blush out of the corner of his eye. _That doesn't mean she has a crush on me. Nope. It's normal for her to react like that. Yeah, totally normal. Wow, her hair looks great with the sun shining on it. Okay, that's another normal thing to notice. Yup, normal. Totally normal._

"Dave, there's your stop," Rose said, jarring him out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," he said, standing up. He waved to his friends and got off the bus. Once it was out of sight he took off running. The crows flocked to him as he texted Dirk about where he would be. He sighed at them and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, some of you stay on lookout for my friends, okay?" he whispered. "Let me know if you see on of them, show me where they are, okay?" Three crows obediently took to the sky. Dave kept running.

It was dark when he got to the graveyard, being the time of year when night came more quickly. He took a deep breath and walked to the center of the cemetery. He stood there and waited. _The center of a graveyard. That's where she always watched the stars._

"Hi Dave." He jumped and turned around. She was floating above the ground, smiling at him. She looked just as he remembered her. He gulped.

"Aradia."


	14. Chapter 14

"You look good," Aradia said. "How have you been?"

"Okay I guess," Dave said. "They…my friends haven't found out what happened." Aradia's smile vanished and she nodded.

"I see." Dave gulped and took a deep breath.

"Aradia, I'm so sorry about what happened. I-I tried to stop it but-"

"It's okay," Aradia interrupted. She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Really, I'm fine."

"No you're not! You're dead! And it's all my fault!"

"Stop it." Aradia wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "It's not your fault. You couldn't do anything about it. Stop torturing yourself over it." Dave wrapped his arms around her and leaned his head on her shoulder. "It's okay now," she whispered.

"No it's not. You're dead and I'm-"

"Stop it. That's enough. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. If I hadn't met you, you wouldn't be dead."

"Someone else would have died then."

"As long as it's not you, I don't care."

"Don't talk like that. The Dave I know doesn't see human life as something that can be tossed away."

"Sorry, I'm just upset."

"I know you are." Aradia smiled and kissed his forehead. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. You never told me where you came from."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"Okay." She smiled and gently stroked his cheek. She was cold, like him. Maybe even colder. "You're not angry?"

"Of course not." She smiled and leaned forward. Their noses pressed together and Dave could feel her cold slowly seeping into him. The worst part was that it didn't bother him. "I'll never hate you Dave. I promise." She leaned closer and their lips touched. Suddenly Dave thought of Jade and her warmth and how she'd blushed when he'd accidentally touched her hand and he pulled away.

"Um…" He frowned. _Why did I do that? It's not like I have a crush on Jade. I…_

"Oh," Aradia said. "You like one of your friends?"

"Uh." Dave gulped and thought about it. "I…yeah. Yeah, I do." Once he said it, it was like a tension he hadn't noticed finally disappeared. He looked up at Aradia, expecting her to be hurt, but instead she was smiling.

"That's okay," she said.

"It is?"

"Yeah. I don't care. I'll be here for you no matter what, forever and always, as friend or whatever." She smiled and hugged him. "Don't worry, I'm sure she likes you back."

"Why would she?" he asked. "I'm nothing special. Especially after what happened."

"I think you're plenty cool."

"Thanks." Aradia smiled and rubbed his head.

"You're welcome." She floated down to the ground and sat down, hovering a few inches above the grass. "So, anything new with you?" Dave smiled and sat in front of her. If he ignored her dead white eyes, he could almost pretend it was summer again and nothing had changed.

He told her about the fun stuff that had happened, like funny stories his friends had shared and what they did over the summer. She listened and laughed and smiled with him while he talked. It felt good, like he was normal again.

"Is that it?" she asked when he finished. "It seems like something's bothering you." Dave gulped and stared at the ground. Aradia reached over and placed her hand on his. "Talk to me, okay?"

Dave told her about the prophecy. He told her about Jaspers and John's storm powers and how Jade became a werewolf. Aradia listened quietly while he talked. Once he finished he took a deep breath and sighed.

"Feel better?" Aradia asked.

"Hell yeah." He took a deep breath and looked up at her. "So, what do you think?" Aradia bit her lip and looked at the ground. "What is it?"

"I…I actually have a message for you." Dave felt his stomach clench. He took a deep breath.

"What is it?"

"It's from…you-know-who."

"Just tell me."

"She says "It's almost time. Be ready. And don't think you can escape me"." Dave let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He covered his face with his hands.

"Shitshitshitshitshit," he said. "Not now, why now?! Can't she wait?!"

"You know she's not like that."

"Yeah."

"You must have known what was coming. The prophecy-"

"Yeah." Aradia reached over and hugged him.

"It's going to be okay Dave."

"No it's not. Don't lie to me like that."

"I'm sorry."

"What were you doing at the graveyard?" Dirk asked. He watched Dave sigh and lean against the wall.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see if there were any risen, so I could get to them before the others."

"Were there any?"

"No."

"Are you gonna do this tomorrow too?"

"Yeah." Dirk sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Fine, but text me again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Dirk bit his lip. _He's not okay. There's something he's not telling me._

"I'm gonna watch TV," Dave said, walking past him. Dirk sighed.

"Okay."

He stared at Dave a moment longer before walking to his room. _I shouldn't push him for details, not now. Maybe later, when he's calmer. He's had a lot shoved onto him right now._ Dirk hoped they had enough time for him to talk to Dave. Ever since he'd heard the prophecy, he'd felt like a bomb was ticking down. And that bomb was Dave.


	15. Chapter 15

Dave was in a bad mood when he left for school, and his friends noticed. He ignored their worried glances and just focused on getting through the day. He'd spent the night sitting on the couch going over the prophecy in his head. He thought for hours, but couldn't find a way to avoid what was going to happen.

 _Damn it!_ Dave clenched his jaw in frustration. _There's gotta be something I can do! There's no way I'm gonna sit back and let her ruin everything!_

"Dave?" Jade placed her hand on his shoulder and warmth spread across his body. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Dave stuttered. He gulped and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "I just didn't get enough sleep. Plus I've got a headache."

"Sleep during class," Rose said. "You can copy our notes afterwards."

"I think I'll be fine," Dave said.

"How much sleep did you get?" Dave shrugged. "If you're tired, then please sleep. It's not healthy to mess up your sleep pattern."

"Yeah, I know." _Like I need to worry about that now._

They kept walking and Jade took her hand off Dave's shoulder. He wished she wouldn't, but he couldn't think of a reason for her not to. He stared at her as they walked. _There has to be something I can do. I don't want her to die. I don't want any of them to die!_ A lump rose in his throat as a memory of Aradia lying on the ground with her blood staining the ground flashed in his mind. _Jade can't have that fate too._

"Mommy!" Dave looked up ahead. A little boy was standing by the road. He was crying and looking around him frantically. He opened his eyes and Dave shivered. They were completely white. He was a ghost.

"Dave, we're crossing the street," Rose said, pulling him to the crosswalk. Dave looked back at the kid.

" _Come with me,_ " he called. The little boy looked at him and ran up to him.

"I want my mommy!" the boy cried.

" _What does she look like?_ "

"She—she has long brown hair. She's wearing a green dress. I want mommy!"

Dave looked around him. _Come on, let me see his mom by some miracle._ But he couldn't see anyone that matched the boy's description. For all he knew, the boy's mom could be at home or out of town. Dave sighed and broadened his senses.

" _Aradia, come here!_ " he called.

"Hi Dave!" Aradia said, flying over. She looked down at the little boy. "Who's this?"

" _Can you help him find his mom?_ "

"Sure! Come on little one." Aradia took the boy's hand and led him away. Dave smiled and watched them go. Then Rose snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"What?!" Dave snapped.

"I was talking to you," Rose said.

"I wasn't listening."

"I noticed. We were thinking of staying over at Jade's tonight, are you going to join us?"

Jade stared at him with hopeful eyes. Dave wanted to say yes, he really did. But he shook his head, and Jade's face fell.

"Why not?" she asked, pouting. _God, she's so cute._

"I'm just gonna sit at home, okay?" Jade's expression turned worried, but she nodded.

"Okay," she said. "Oh! There's the school bus!"

They all got on the bus and it drove off. When they got to school Dave pretended to take a nap throughout the class while his friends did the work. He did the same for the next class, and during lunch he copied their work. Throughout the whole day he anxiously waited for the end of the school day.

When school finished Dave sat in the bus wishing it would go faster. He tuned out what his friends were saying and stared out the window. Finally the bus came to his stop. He might have said bye to his friends but he wasn't sure. He ran out of the bus and texted Dirk that he would be in the graveyard. Then he ran over there.

" _Aradia!_ " he called. " _Where are you?_ "

" _I'm still helping the boy find his mom,_ " Aradia responded. " _Do you need me for something important?_ "

" _No, it can wait. Just come to the graveyard when you're done, okay?_ "

" _Sure thing!_ "

Dave sighed and looked around the graveyard. As long as he was there, he might as well look for risen. So he stretched his senses as far as he could. Immediately he sensed one at the north end of the cemetery. He took off running towards them.

He found him crouched behind an old oak tree. He was crouched over a dead squirrel, which he was slowly eating. He was brought back pretty well it seemed. He was missing his nose and some fingers, plus he had some open cuts on him that of course weren't bleeding. He looked like he must have been ten years old or so when he died. Dave could sense he had an okay vocabulary, but not the best out of other he'd run into.

"Hey," Dave said. The risen looked up at him. "What are you doing here? Where's your master?"

"Don't know," the risen answered. "Gone. Long time. Waiting." He licked his fingers and looked up at Dave. "Lonely."

"Oh." _He's lonely?_ Dave had never heard a risen say they were lonely. Then again, they usually had another risen with them or their master. This guy was all alone. "Okay then," Dave said. "I'll be your friend, how does that sound?"

"Friend?"

"Yeah. Then you won't be lonely." He grinned and his eyes went wide.

"Yes! Yes!" he said. He picked up his squirrel and held it up to Dave. "Share."

"Uh…okay. What does squirrel taste like?"

"Favourite."

Dave sat next to him and helped him divide up the squirrel.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Don't rember."

"Remember," Dave corrected. "Do you want me to give you a name?"

"Yes! Please!" Dave stared at him and thought for a moment.

"How about Leo?" he asked.

"Leo?"

"Yeah. It's got something to do with cats. Sorry I don't know any that have something to do with squirrels. Cat's close enough, right?"

"Leo!" Dave smiled.

"Guess you like it then." Leo nodded eagerly.

"Me Leo," he said proudly. "You?"

"I'm Dave."

"Dave?"

"Yup."

"Cool."

"Yep." Leo smiled and munched on his half of the squirrel. "Hey Leo, you shouldn't come to here too often."

"Why?"

"It's dangerous. Sometimes my friends come here, and if they see you they'll try to kill you."

"But we friends. Dave friends no kill Leo."

"They…they don't really like people like you."

"Huh?"

"Um, you look like a walking corpse, and that scares them. If they see you they'll try to light you on fire."

"Fire! Pretty. Warm."

"No listen, fire is bad. It'll kill you."

"Dead."

"No, you're undead. If you touch fire you'll…stop existing."

"Bad?"

"Real bad. Avoid fire at all costs, okay?"

"Okay!" Leo smiled at Dave. "Dave friend. Dave give Leo name. Leo no have friends before. Leo happy."

"Good." Dave patted Leo on the shoulder. "You deserve to be happy. You're still a person."

 _I can't let them find him._ Dave watched him eat the dead squirrel. _He's just a kid. I can't let them kill him. I have to protect him. He's my responsibility until his master comes back for him._ Dave nodded to himself. He would protect Leo no matter what.


	16. Chapter 16

The number of risen had been increasing. At first it was just a few at a time, but after a week they'd begun to arrive in bigger numbers and more frequently. Dave was having a hard time dealing with it. He'd been sending them to the forest whenever he got to them before his friends, but he knew they couldn't stay hidden there for long. Someone was going to notice sooner or later—worst-case scenario it would be Rose.

There wasn't much he could do though. When night came he was at the cemetery looking for risen, and during the day he was at school or at home. Of course his friends wanted to spend time with him, but he'd been refusing all their offers. It wasn't that he was _avoiding_ them, he was just being extra careful.

"You're avoiding them," Aradia said.

"What?"

"Your friends, you're avoiding them."

"No I'm not."

"It's a lovely Saturday morning and you're sitting in your room watching Leo draw on your floor."

"Yeah."

"I know Jade asked if you wanted to go to the park with her and Bec."

"I thought I'd spend time with you two instead."

"You're avoiding them."

"Shut up."

Aradia stared at him for a few seconds until she finally rolled her eyes and dropped the subject. Dave sighed and returned to watching Leo bend over the floor and draw. Most of the time he was just drawing on the floor, but he did have drawings on paper—one of which he was doing right that second. He positioned himself so Dave couldn't see what it was until he finished. Dave didn't mind, it was kind of cute how secretive he was over his drawings. They weren't any better than an average child's drawings, but Dave still thought they were great. It was nice to see Leo do things that normal kids do.

"Finished!" he said, sitting up. He picked up his drawing and held it proudly out to Dave. Dave smiled and looked at it, but immediately his smile was replaced with a frown.

"Leo…who is this a drawing of?" _It can't be-_

"Dave friend!"

"You mean Jade." It was definitely her: long black hair, green eyes and round glasses. "Leo, when did you see her?"

"Last night."

"It told you to stay away from the cemetery!"

Leo looked down at the ground guiltily. "Want meet Dave friends."

"You can't-"

"Warm." Leo pointed at his drawing of Jade. "Warm. Want."

"What do you want her for?"

Leo tilted his head to the side and frowned his eyes in concentration. After a few seconds his eyes lit up. "Hugs!"

"You…want her to hug you?"

"Yes! Warm! Like warm!"

Dave chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, me too," he whispered. He looked down at the drawing and bit his lip.

"Meet Jade?" Leo asked. Dave shook his head and Leo's face fell.

"You can't meet her right now, okay? She'd be scared of you. But…I'll talk to her eventually. I'll tell her what you're really like, and then she won't be scared of you and you can meet her."

"Hugs?!"

"Yeah, you'll get lots of hugs."

Leo bounced up and down and clapped his hands excitedly. "Thank you! Thank you!" He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Dave. "Dave best. Dave best friend Leo ever have."

"Thanks Leo," Dave whispered, hugging him back.

Leo eventually got bored of drawing, so Aradia took him out for a walk. "I'll keep a close eye on him," she promised. "If anything happens I'll get him back to you as quickly as possible."

"Okay. Be careful," Dave said. "Get back here by sunset. Stick to the forest at all costs. Do _not_ be seen."

"You could just come with us."

"I can't. I have to think about the prophecy some more."

Aradia's smile turned into a worried frown. "Just be careful, all right? Don't overwork yourself."

"I won't."

Normally he wouldn't have let them go out, but he knew how much Leo hated being stuck indoors all day long. _Aradia will keep him safe. He'll be perfectly fine._

"Okay, time to start figuring this shit out."

He sat in the backyard outside and did his best to think. He wasn't the kind of person who normally thought for hours on end, but he'd been doing that a lot lately. He had to find a way to stop the prophecy.

He had been sitting for nearly an hour with no good progress when he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately tensed up and sat up in a crouch. _Please tell me that's not Rose! If she sees all the crows…_

"Dave!" Dave sighed with relief when he heard Jade's voice. She ran out of the back door to him and his relief was immediately replaced with worry when he saw she was crying.

"What happened?" he asked. She sat down next to him and he wrapped an arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he stroked her head. "Shh. Hey, what happened?"

"…I went looking through my grandpa's stuff."

"Shit, how much trouble are you in?"

"I don't know. But…I f-found some of his journals. There was…I found…he wrote about w-what happened to my parents."

"You mean…when they died?"

"That's just it! They didn't!"

Dave's eyes widened and he stared at Jade in surprise. "What do you mean they're not…? Then where-"

"The forest," Jade snapped. "Th-they're in the forest."

Dave felt a chill of dread crawl down his spine. "You mean…?"

"They got bitten. They were…they're…"

Dave wrapped his other arm around Jade and pulled her closer. "Shh. Don't cry. Shh." She didn't listen and only cried harder.

"Th-th-they could have been there when I…! It could have been them! I could have shot them! I-"

"But in the end you can't know." Dave wiped her tears off her cheeks and cupped her face in his hands. "If you worry about it you'll drive yourself crazy. And…and anyway, there's nothing you can do now so…"

"I know," Jade whispered. Her eyes were shiny from new tears forming and her voice was shaky. "It…it's been too long to use s-silver on them, th-they'll have gone completely…feral by now." Her voice broke near the end of her sentence and the tears rolled down her cheeks. Dave wiped them away and cursed internally. _How the hell do you comfort a crying girl?! Shit, where's Rose when you need her?! Or John or his dad, dads are good at this sort of thing, right? Fuck, what do I do?_

"Look, um…" Dave took a deep breath, and then paused as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. Jade looked up at him with hopeful eyes and he blurted out the first thing he could think of: "You're still human."

"But…I'm not-"

"Okay, okay, I know technically you're not, but you're using the silver so you don't transform. Your parents didn't get to do that so…you get the chance they didn't get. Don't…don't spend your whole life being depressed over maybes and what-ifs. I mean, uh you should still be upset right now I don't think it would be possible for you to not be, but just…um, I'll help you out with it all, okay?"

Surprisingly enough, Jade laughed. It wasn't her happy best-day-ever laugh, it was smaller and pretty sad-sounding, but it was still a laugh, and with that came a small smile. That smile made relief and warmth flow through Dave.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Dave realized what was happening immediately when their faces came closer together. He knew she was going to kiss him and he was fine with that, heck he wanted her to. But then a memory surfaced in his mind: Aradia cut open, her blood soaking into the dry earth. Her blood covered his hands and in the background he could hear the evil laughter and screaming, it must have been his screams because Aradia was dead at that point. All the fear, anger and horror came back as the image shifted and Aradia changed to Jade. So just as their lips touched Dave shoved her away from him.

Jade looked surprised to say the least, not to mention hurt—very hurt. Dave was kicking himself on the inside but at the same time there was a small voice telling him this was the right thing to do to protect her.

"You…you should go," Dave said. The words tasted terrible in his mouth. Jade's upset eyes changed to anger and she stood up and kicked dirt at him.

"Fine!" she snapped, her voice full of venom. Dave hung his head as she stormed off, slamming doors as she went.

"Why'd you do that?" Dave looked up at Dirk, who had just come out the back door.

"You were listening?"

"Yeah. Why'd you do that?"

"I don't want her to end up like Aradia."

Dirk tensed at the mention of her name. He took a deep breath, paused, then exhaled without saying anything. After all, what could he say? He'd said everything he could think of months ago, and Dave didn't want him to just repeat that stuff, that would just make him feel worse.

"Okay," Dirk said, sitting down. "Let's talk about the prophecy."

Dave told him about John's storm powers—he had neglected to since he'd promised not to tell anyone, but then again this was important. He also told him about the risen he'd hidden away in the forest.

They talked for hours about what to do. They could come up with ideas and suggestions but they were always either unrealistic or not good enough. It was demoralizing, but Dirk kept talking, probably to keep Dave from being depressed. But after a while he realized Aradia and Leo weren't back yet.

" _Aradia!_ " he called. " _Where are you? Why aren't you back yet?_ "

" _Oh, sorry,_ " Aradia called back. " _I didn't realize how late it had gotten. Leo's playing with the risen child you brought to the forest. I'll tell him it's time to go._ "

" _Good._ "

Dave turned back to Dirk but was interrupted before he could say anything by Aradia. " _Okay, we're going to go find a squirrel to bring back to you, and then we'll be home._ "

" _Be careful._ "

" _We will._ "

Jade sat in front of John and Rose, still crying but not as hard as she had been at first. John's hand was on her shoulder and Rose sat with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Jade," she said. "You know I'm excellent at knowing things just by looking at people, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Listen, I could tell you had a crush on Dave before you could."

"So what-"

"So I could also tell Dave had a crush on you long before he noticed."

Jade stared at her with wide eyes filled with confusion but also hope. "But…he-"

"I think this has something to do with what happened to him over the summer."

"What? What do you think happened to him?" John asked. Rose leaned forward and whispered to them. Their eyes widened and John's jaw dropped.

"No way…" Jade said.

"I spent a lot of time thinking before I reached this conclusion. Trust me, I have no doubts about this."

"But…what are we going to do?" John asked.

"We're going to the cemetery."

Dave and Dirk had been talking about the prophecy for about another half hour when a shout echoed in Dave's mind.

" _DAVE!_ "


	17. Chapter 17

"Leo!" Dave exclaimed, jumping up.

"What?" Dirk asked, rising nervously into a crouch.

"Leo's in trouble! I…I gotta go help him!"

"I'll come with-"

"No, no stay here! I'll be right back! Just let me…just let me help him myself!"

Dirk hesitated for a second before nodding and Dave was immediately running. He broadened his senses to find Leo and he found him exactly where he'd been afraid of finding him: the cemetery. It would take an ordinary human fifteen to twenty minutes to get from his house to the cemetery, but Dave wasn't anything close to ordinary, and he could get there in under a minute.

The sight that awaited him was horrible. His friends' faces glowed in the firelight and it brought to mind an evil cult from some shitty horror film. But this wasn't a shitty horror film, and Leo was burning.

"Put it out!" Dave screeched, running up to them. John and Jade jumped back in surprise and Rose just looked up at him, like she'd been expecting him. "Put it out!" he shouted again. John held his hand out and rainwater poured out of it, extinguishing the fire. Dave bent over Leo and picked him up in his arms.

"Hey, Leo! Hey, talk to me! Hey!" But he could already sense that there was nothing there. He was gone.

 _No. No. No, no, no, no, no! Damn it!_ Dave was shaking from both anger and sadness. He bent his head close to Leo's and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have let you out of my sight. I'm sorry."

He stayed like that for as long as he dared, feeling like the worst person ever. Or maybe…the second worst person. He looked up at Rose and ground his teeth.

"What the _hell_!" he snapped. His voice was full of venom and John and Jade flinched in surprise, but Rose just glared at him calmly. "He was just a _kid_! What the hell is _wrong_ with you?!"

"He was a monster," Rose said.

"No he wasn't! Don't you dare call him that, you didn't even know him!" Dave put Leo down and jumped to his feet. "He didn't do anything wrong! He was just a little kid dammit!"

"No he wasn't! That little kid wasn't alive in there, no matter what you think. That was just a monster walking around in some poor boy's corpse!"

"He wasn't a monster!"

"They're all monsters!" Rose was seething and a black aura was beginning to appear, but Dave didn't care and she didn't notice. "You think they're the same people they were when they were alive?! They're not! They're not back from the dead, their body is just roaming around after it should be in the ground!"

"Like your precious pet cat?!" Confusion flashed across John and Jade's faces, while Rose's aura flared and she grabbed Dave by his shirt. "Yeah, a pair of contact lenses or whatever the hell you put on him isn't going to change what-"

"So what if he's a monster?! At least I admit it!"

That brought Dave to a stop. He'd thought for sure that she wouldn't say that. "But he remembers everything-"

"So what?! He's still a monster!"

Dave shoved her away from him and balled his hands into fists. "What the hell! Why are you so narrow-minded?!"

"I'm not narrow-minded here, you are!"

"What if it was one of us?!" Dave swept his arm out and waved to all of them. "What if it was one of us?! Would we still be a monster?! Would you still light one of us on fire?!"

"Yes."

Dave was so shocked he felt like he might collapse. _No…no even Rose isn't that…she wouldn't…_

"You…you wouldn't…you're not-"

"I would Dave."

He felt his hands begin to shake and he looked desperately at John and Jade. "You guys…you don't really _agree_ with her…right? You're not really…?" They looked at each other and opened their mouths, but hesitated to speak.

"I think," Jade started, "I think…it—it would be really hard to do that but…"

"I would hate to see one of you guys…reduced to that," John said. Jade nodded.

" _Reduced_ …?" This time Dave did collapse, and he didn't even try to hide the fact he was starting to cry. "Fuck, I sort of expected this from Rose but…you two?!" He stared at Jade through his shades as he spoke. _I know you're angry after I rejected you but really?!_ "I hoped you at least would understand."

"Dave," Rose said. "It's time you accepted what they are."

"Fuck off!"

"Dave, I know why you care about risen so much."

Panic coursed through Dave's body and he felt his breath quicken. _Well of course she was going to figure it out! It's not like it'll make much difference now._

"I know why you don't like it when we hunt them."

"Stop it."

"I know why what we've said is so upsetting for you."

"Shut up!" _Don't say it! Don't-_

"I know you're a necromancer."

The entire cemetery was quiet and it seemed as though the world was holding its breath, waiting to see what Dave would do. He closed his eyes…and laughed. It was a sad, humorless laugh and it was the most pitiful thing he'd ever heard.

"Why was I ever worried?" he said. "Of _course_ that's what you'd think!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not a necromancer Rose."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" She was glaring at him like she was going to beat him up. Her dark aura was flaring again and John and Jade had noticed it. They were eyeing Rose with worried and scared expressions.

"It's not bullshit Rose, I'm being completely honest."

"If you're not going to admit it-"

"Will you get it through your stuck-up self-absorbed head that you're wrong?!" Dave was on his feet and shouting in her face. "Not everything you think up is right you know! You don't know everything! You don't know what I am and you don't know what I could do to you!"

"What then! What are you Dave?! What could you do to me?!"

Dave took a deep breath. "I'm a monster…and I could kill you."

Rose threw a punch at him but he dodged and shoved her away as easily as taking a breath. She glared at him and crouched in a fighting stance.

"You're not a monster!"

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe that after you continuously called me one."

"I never-"

"Think about it Rose! Use your damn brain you're so proud of!" Dave was breathing heavily and he took a deep breath to calm down, just a little bit. When he spoke again it was in a whisper just loud enough for them all to hear. "Why do you think I recognized the diagram in your basement Rose?"

Rose opened her mouth, stopped, then closed it and opened it again, like a fish gasping for water. Then her eyes went wide and her aura vanished, and in place of the anger her eyes were filled with tears that were threatening to run down her cheeks.

"No…no you're not…"

"I am."

"What?" Jade asked. Her voice was filled with fear and concern. "Rose, what does he mean?"

Tears were running down Rose's cheeks and she reached out to Dave with a shaking hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't…I didn't know…I-"

"Of course you didn't know!" Dave pulled his arm away from her and took a step back. "If you'd known, you wouldn't have been honest about how you feel, none of you would! I'm glad you didn't because now I know how you really feel!"

"No…no we didn't…I…"

"Shut up!"

"Dave!" Jade yelled. "What…what is going on?! You're our friend, please tell us what's-"

The words were out of Dave's mouth before he could stop himself: "You're not my friends!"

Rose started sobbing and John and Jade flinched visibly. Jade had the same look in her eyes she'd had when Dave pushed her away, but this time there was no anger. John looked like he was going to cry and he took a step towards Dave.

"But…but we've always been friends…why are you…?"

"Not anymore." Dave felt like the worst person alive…except he wasn't. Alive that is. "I'm not your friend if you all just think I'm a monster."

Then he took off his shades. John and Jade gasped and Rose choked out another sob. Dave knew why they were so shocked: his eyes were the eyes of the dead.

"You're…"

"Yeah." Dave glared at them and threw his shades on the ground. "Nice to know you all think I'm a monster."

John and Jade had gone completely pale and Rose was still crying. He didn't care. He just didn't care anymore, he just wanted to get away from them. He opened his mouth to say more but before he could he sensed… _her_.

And then she was standing a few feet behind him.

"Hello Dave," she said. Dave turned and looked at her. She looked just like he remembered: skin as white as bone and hair and clothes as black as night.

"Kelethme." Her name tasted like rotten flesh on his tongue. Her eyes flared and her pale hand flew out and slapped him.

"You _dare_ call me by my name?!" Her silver eyes bore into him and he felt his courage crumble. "Apologize."

"I'm sorry."

"Kneel and apologize, properly."

Like the last time, his body automatically followed her command. He could feel his friends' confusion on his back and he did his best to ignore it. _Just get out of here! Please!_

"I'm sorry master."

"That's better." She grabbed his hair and pulled until he was standing again. "Now come on, we're leaving."

"Wait!" Jade shouted. Dave turned to look at her with wide eyes. She was supposed to hate him, dammit! And yet, after everything he'd said, she was reaching out to him with wide eyes. "Where are you going?!"

"I'm taking him away," Kelethme said. "Is that a problem? I was under the impression you weren't friends."

"We're not," Dave said quickly. "Jade seriously, leave me alone!"

"We're not leaving you alone!" Rose snapped. She glared at Kelethme. "I don't care if you're his master, you're not taking him away!"

Kelethme's eyes narrowed and Dave could feel her anger rolling off of her in waves. "Little girl, do you know who I am?! I am the Lord of Necromancers!" She looked at Dave and smiled evilly. "And I have come for my General."

Rose's anger washed away and was replaced with shock. She stared at Dave with wide eyes filled with betrayal.

"What?"

"You heard her," Dave said.

"Do you need to say goodbye?" Kelethme asked.

"No."

"Then we're going."

She waved her hand and a black portal appeared in the air. She motioned for Dave to go first. He looked back at his friends and felt their emotions strike him like knife wounds. _There's nothing I can do now._

"Don't come after me," he said. "Ever." Then he turned and stepped through the portal, away from the friends he was betraying and the girl he loved. But he had no doubts that he was making the right choice.

 **Did anyone guess correctly at what Dave was? If you didn't, tell me what your theory(ies) were, I wanna hear them.**


	18. Chapter 18

Jade's eyes were locked on the place where the portal had appeared only moments before. Rose was collapsed on the ground, crying and moaning "What have I done? What have I done?" John was crying into his hands and mumbling something quietly enough that the only word Jade could make out was "Dave."

"This is a dream, right?" she asked. Her whole body was numb and she felt disconnected from what was happening around her. "This has to be a dream. Please tell me it's a dream."

"It's not," Rose said. "It-"

"Hey!"

Jade jumped and they all turned to find…Dirk. He ran up to them and looked around in a panicky way.

"What happened?! Where's Dave?!" He looked around again until his eyes rested on what remained of the risen Dave had called Leo. He tensed, clenched his jaw and looked around at them all, stopping at Rose.

"What. The. Hell. Happened."

"I'll tell you what happened."

Jade gasped as the air went cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. The angry voice came from a girl floating above them, cloaked in a dark red aura. Her eyes were piercing and cold and…they were completely white, like Dave's.

"Aradia?" Dirk said slowly, like he couldn't quite process what he was staring at. Aradia turned and glared down at Rose.

"You called him a monster! You all did!" She spun around in a circle to glare at the three of them.

"We didn't know!" Rose cried. "We didn't know we were calling him a monster! We didn't mean to! He didn't tell us-"

"Of course he didn't! He was afraid of how you would react!" Aradia's voice dropped to a threatening growl. "And it looks like he was right to be afraid."

"No he wasn't!" Rose was on her feet and shouting at Aradia. "I don't pretend to understand what the hell he's been through, but if he'd told me I wouldn't have called him a monster! He's my friend!"

"Where did he go?" Dirk asked.

" _You-know-who_ came and took him away," Aradia said. Dirk shouted and kicked at the ground.

"Shit! God damn it!"

"We can get him back," Rose said. "We just need to make the portal. We can-"

Before she could finish Dirk ran up to her and punched her in the face. She fell down and grabbed her bleeding nose. "Sorry," Dirk growled, "But I really needed to fucking do that. You have no idea how fucking bad this is. You have no idea what Dave's going through."

"Then explain it to me."

"How'd this all happen?" John whined. "Why to Dave? What did he ever do?"

"Sit down," Aradia said. "We'll tell you."

"No," Dirk said. "Dave wouldn't want us to."

"After all this you think he still cares? He doesn't expect them to survive much longer."

"What?" Jade squeaked. Dirk looked at them and sighed.

"Sit down Jade."

So the three of them sat in a half circle and looked up uneasily at Dirk and Aradia. They were both quiet, waiting to see who would go first. Dirk cleared his throat.

"During the summer," he began, "Dave wanted to do some hunting. Somewhere other than here, just to see what it would be like. You guys would be busy so we just went by ourselves. There was a quiet town that was said to have a necromancer the people wanted to be rid of."

"I lived there," Aradia said. "I was also a necromancer, but not the one they were looking for. I made sure to make that clear when I met Dave." Aradia looked up at the sky with a sad smile. "It was nice for a while. We became good friends and we hung out a lot." Her gaze dropped to look down at the three teenagers. "But then the necromancer they'd come to deal with stirred up trouble."

"We were fighting some of her risen in a graveyard," Dirk said. "We got split up and by the time I dealt with them Dave was gone."

"They weren't her risen," Aradia corrected. "They were someone else's, she just took them and put them where you would find them." She ran her hands through her hair absent-mindedly. "She kidnapped Dave and brought him to her lair. She'd had a diagram readied before-hand. Rose knows what I'm talking about." Aradia nodded to the pale girl who had begun to shake slightly.

"She killed him," she whispered. "Didn't she?"

"Yes. And then she contacted the evil gods and made a pact with them. They brought Dave back to life with all his memories intact and she gained great power. Because of the spell, Dave will immediately obey any order she gives. She wanted to test out that particular part, so she ordered him to kill me."

"What?!" Jade and John exclaimed in unison.

"I managed to grab him and escape," Dirk said. "We ran back here and hoped _you-know-who_ didn't know where we lived. He had a hard time after that, but he did his best to shut off all his grieving when school started so you guys wouldn't notice. He's spent all this year trying to hide all of this from you guys." Dirk's voice had taken an angry edge and what he said next made Jade flinch. "And then you go and call him a fucking _monster_ so of course he's gonna fucking give up!"

No one said anything and an oppressive silence blanketed them.

"He told me about the prophecy," Aradia said.

"What prophecy?" John asked.

"The 17th prophecy of the End Days," Rose said. "The dead will turn to the one who fears them. The wolf will grow in the one who despises them. The evil will speak with the one who defies them. And the storms will rage through the one who calls them. When the moon is full and her power is high the Lord of Necromancers will arrive to bring death. She will summon her General and all the dead shall flock to him. And should her power be unleashed the world will perish in fire and death."

"Dave knew what was coming," Aradia continued. "He knew and he was trying to figure out how to save you all. And then you went and betrayed him like that!"

"We didn't mean to!" Jade wailed. "I'd never—we'd never mean to! I…" She bowed her head and her voice dropped to a quiet moan. "I love him."

Aradia's eyes soften just slightly and she sighed. "I know, and he does love you too, but that's why he said you aren't his friends. If Kelethme thinks he still cares about you she will take great delight in making you all miserable."

"We can stop her," Rose said. "We can make a portal and we can fight her and-"

"You can't. She's too powerful."

"You don't understand." Rose's face was blank and she looked at Aradia with eyes that showed only determination and perhaps…acceptance? "That is what the evil gods want us to do, and I cannot refuse them."

"Yes, Dave mentioned you conducted the ritual on your cat." She clenched her jaw and cracked her knuckles a few times. "If the evil gods are commanding you then I won't stop you, but you shouldn't expect thanks for your efforts from Dave. He'll likely be very angry with you."

"I'm prepared for that."

"Then I wish you luck."

Without another word the red glow around her vanished and she faded away.

"Where did she go?" John asked.

"She didn't," Dirk said. "She's psychic, she just stopped letting us see her." He turned to Rose and took a deep breath. "Now how are you gonna help me get my brother back, bitch?"

Dave sat at a tall window overlooking the grounds of the castle. There was nothing living there, only dead ground and some burnt trees. A continuous storm raged in the sky, with lightning striking the ground and leaving scorch marks and thunder booming through the air. Before, he would have jumped at every flash and boom, but now he watched with an emotionless calm.

 _It's almost beautiful in all its destructive power._ The storm was a lot like Kelethme—beautiful but dangerous. _It won't be long now. Soon all the risen will have gathered and she'll order the attack. And then…_ He felt his chest tighten and he closed his eyes.

 _Then they'll die._

"You're sure this will work?" John asked.

"Yes." Rose dipped her hands into the bucket of black paint and finished the diagram. "The evil gods showed it to me."

"Yeah, great," Dirk grumbled. Jade winced at his sour mood. After a lengthy argument Rose had convinced him to stay behind while they went after Dave. Someone had to stay behind to maintain the portal, and since Dirk was an ordinary human he would have less of a chance of surviving whatever they would encounter.

"It's ready," Rose said, wiping her hands. "Get into your positions."

They each stood in their designated circle in the diagram. Rose held out her hands and began to whisper in a language that Jade just couldn't seem to…hear? It was odd, she would hear it but she wouldn't remember what she had heard afterwards.

The diagram glowed a deep purple and light and energy swirled together until it was a gaping hole in the air. The portal was ready, albeit rather crude compared to Kelethme's. All that mattered though was that it would take them to Dave.

"I'll go first," Rose said. "Follow in after me. And Dirk, whatever you do, don't leave your circle."

"You better bring him back," was all he said.

"We will."

Rose strode forward purposefully. Once she was close to the portal she was yanked off her feet and pulled into it. Jade jumped in surprise and John called out to her but she was gone. They each looked at each other and hesitated.

"If one of you doesn't go now I'm going!" Dirk snapped. John immediately ran to the portal and was sucked in. Jade bit her lip and turned to Dirk.

"Did…does he really love me?"

"Yes." Her heart began to beat faster and warmth flowed from her chest. "Now get going so that love of his isn't wasted."

"Thank you."

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and ran towards the portal.

John didn't know anything about portals, but he was pretty sure they usually made you appear on the ground. He was floating in the middle of a violent storm and Rose and Jade were nowhere to be seen. He hoped the portal had done a better job for them.

He stared at the storm with a suspicious gaze. Something about the storm felt…wrong. It was as though it didn't want to be there, but it couldn't leave. And as he stared at it he realized it was all focusing on one spot—part of the ominous black castle it thundered above.

He flew closer to the storm and felt it pull towards him eagerly, as though it was begging him "Free me!" He was more than happy to oblige.

Rose didn't stop walking when her feet touched the cold stone of the castle's entrance. She marched right through the doors, gripping her wands tightly in her hands. The air hummed with dark energy and it felt like she was a match in a warehouse full of dynamite.

She found her prey in an inner courtyard, with no ceiling to protect them from the storm above their heads. Kelethme was sitting on a throne carved out of a multitude of black metals. She leapt off her throne and stood before Rose.

"Well, well, well," she crooned. "The little witch has come to challenge me!"

Rage poured out of Rose, tainting her skin and condensing into a dark aura around her. Everything in her vision turned black except Kelethme—she practically glowed, like a fallen star. A raging scream tore through her throat and she charged. Kelethme's skin darkened and a black aura appeared around her and they met in a series of magic attacks. Their fight had begun, and nothing other than them would end it.

"How dare you do that to him!" Rose screamed. "How dare you treat him like that?! Like his life doesn't matter?!"

"Oh, but it does matter! He is my General and he will lead my armies to bring about a new age!"

"I won't let that happen!"

"There is nothing you can do to stop it!"

"Yes there is." Power coursed through Rose and she grinned. "I can kill you."

She opened her hands and shot out all the power she could muster at Kelethme. Wind roared in her ears and she swore she could hear her scream. Her mouth lifted into a smirk, but fell suddenly when she was slammed back and sent flying across the courtyard. Her head swam and she fought to stand up quickly, before she was killed. Kelethme was laughing and Rose could feel her power radiating off her in strong waves.

"Kill me?! You're just a little girl who wants to save a doomed friend!" She smiled and a low growl emerged from the back of her throat. "My power will never wane as long as I am here. You cannot kill me!"

Rose stood up straight and held up her wands. "Prove it."

Jade had the wonderful luck to trip while she was going through the portal. Her stomach lurched and she found herself lying face-first on a cold stone floor. She jumped up and looked around her, her heart beating rapidly.

"Rose?" she called out. "John? D…Dave?"

"Your portal was rather crude."

Jade jumped and whirled around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, hi Aradia. You scared me."

"That was intentional. You've each appeared in different spot here. Lucky for you it was John who appeared in the sky."

"Are they okay? And…where exactly are we?"

"They're fine for now. This is Kelethme's castle, it's in an alternate dimension she made." Aradia's eyes narrowed and she drifted higher above the ground. "I suppose you want to find Dave."

"Yes!"

"Follow me."

She led her down dark corridors with tall foreboding windows. Lightning flashed through them and thunder groaned from the sky. The whole location seemed to come straight out of a novel or movie, but Jade didn't have any room in her head to think about that. All she could think about was getting Dave home.

"He's in there." Aradia stopped in front of a door and crossed her arms. "Good luck." Then she vanished and Jade was alone.

"Thank you," she whispered. She took a deep breath and walked over to the door. She considered knocking but decided that that would just give Dave time to run off somewhere else. So she stood up straight, opened the door and walked right in.

Dave was sitting on a window ledge and jumped down onto the floor when she walked in. His white eyes were wide and he was crouched in a way that suggested he would be ready to run. _No you don't!_

"Dave!" She ran up to him but he pushed her away when she got close.

"What are you doing?!" he hissed. "How did you get here?!"

"Rose made a portal and-"

"Is she here too?!"

"Yeah, and John-"

"God damn it!" Dave punched the wall, leaving a surprisingly large dent in it. "What the hell! I told you not to follow me!"

"Well, we weren't going to listen to that! You're our friend!"

"I-"

"Don't you dare say otherwise!" Jade's eyes were starting to fill with tears and she quickly blinked. "You are our friend. Dirk and Aradia told us what happened to you and you are still our friend. I get that you're trying to protect us because you…you care about us. But you can't just cast us aside Dave. We want to help you! We-"

"And how are you going to do that? Kill Kelethme?! That's impossible!"

"You don't know that!"

"Jade, I think I would know that better than anyone!"

"But you won't be alone! If we all face her together then-"

"Then she would make me kill you!" His voice cracked and this time tears did flow out of Jade's eyes. His eyes dropped to the ground and his voice fell to a small whisper. "I don't want to kill you."

"Then I won't let you."

"Stop it."

"No. Dave I-"

"Why are you trying to help a monster?!"

"You're not a monster!" She grabbed his shoulders and glared at him through her vision blurred by tears. "You're not like the other risen, you remember who you are. And…and maybe they're not really monsters either, I don't know! We don't know all the things about them you do, we don't understand. But if you explain it to us then I'm sure we'd get it. I…I want to understand, I want you to explain it to me. I want to help you through this. If…if she tries to make you kill us I'll stop you, I promise."

"How are you going to stop me?"

"I'll…hold you down or…or tie you up. Just…I'll do something!"

"Would you kill me?"

"No! I would never-"

"You might have to!" He grabbed her wrists and pulled her closer to him. "I'm stronger than you, even though you're a werewolf. If you can't hold me down or tie me up you have to kill me."

"I…"

"If you want me to believe you can help me then promise you'll kill me."

"I…I can't!"

"You have to!"

"But I love you!"

He closed his eyes and slowly lowered his head until his forehead rested on her shoulder. "I know, and I would never want to put you through that. But I don't want to hurt the one I love."

"But…"

"Jade, please." His lifted his head and their eyes locked. "Please promise you'll kill me so I don't have to kill you."

Jade shut her eyes and turned her face away, unable to bear looking at him. "You're…so selfish. Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"I'm terrified of it, but I've already died once. What's one more time?"

"That's not funny."

"Sorry."

She opened her eyes and slowly looked back at his face. He hadn't moved and his expression hadn't changed. "I'll promise…if you promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Promise you'll try to resist her command with all your might."

Dave's mouth thinned into a sad smile. "I would have done that even if you hadn't asked. I promise."

Jade's mouth was dry as she echoed him. "I promise."

"Thank you." He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips against her cheek. She returned the gesture and closed her eyes. They didn't move and she drank up all the nice coolness that came off of him and combatted her warmth. Neither of them spoke for the longest time, until finally his voice broke the silence. "What now?"

"Now…" She pulled back and they looked at each other. "Now we have to find Rose and John. Then we'll get out of here. Dirk's waiting for you."

"Then let's go."

John pulled and pulled at the storm with all his might. Something was holding it, sucking out its power and keeping it trapped there. It was in so much pain! He held out his hands and pulled again, screaming in frustration. _I will free you! I will save you!_

Rose knew she was at a disadvantage. Kelethme's powers were continually renewed, just as she'd said. But Rose wasn't done, she wasn't tiring and she wasn't stopping. Her rage filled her up and kept her strong. The duel continued with no signs of either side relenting, each of them completely oblivious to their surroundings.

A strong blast of magic from Rose knocked Kelethme off balance and she fell on her back. Grinning, Rose took a step forward, but then her prey raised her arm and called out.

"Dave! Come help me deal with her!"

He heard her voice, and without any restraint his body began to move.

"Where are you going?!" Jade exclaimed. "That's deeper into the castle! What if we run into-"

"She's calling me." He clenched his jaw and tried to pull away, but his legs kept walking forward. "I…I can't stop."

Jade wrapped her hands around his wrist and tried to pull him back, but he just dragged her along. She struggled and fought, but it was no use. Eventually he broke into a run and slipped out of her grasp. She called after him and he wanted to turn back, but nothing changed. He just kept running forward.

"Stop…being so…fast!" Jade gasped, catching up to him.

"I can't help being stronger and faster than a human." They were running down more corridors and he could sense his master's presence getting closer. "Jade…don't forget your promise."

"As long as…you don't forget yours."

"I won't."

They came to a stop in the inner courtyard, where Rose and Kelethme were fighting. They launched spell after spell in rapid succession and the air around them radiated hatred and power. Jade whimpered and shrank back, and though he wanted to do the same Dave was rooted to the spot. Kelethme's eyes locked on him and a gleeful grin spread across her face.

"Dave," she said. She pointed her claw-like nails at Rose. "Come kill her."

He took a step forward and felt Jade's arms wrap around him. "Stop it!" she shouted. "Fight! You promised you'd fight her!"

"He can't fight me!" Kelethme laughed and dodged a spell Rose cast. "I am his master, and I command him to kill this girl!"

Dave tried to fight, he tried to pull away from the call that echoed in all of his being, but it wasn't working. He was walking closer and closer to Rose, unimpeded by Jade.

"Don't do it!" she shouted. "You're not like that! You don't kill people! I know what happened with Aradia, but that's not who you are! Please don't do this!"

"It won't work!" Kelethme roared. "As long as I have unending power, he cannot resist me!" She raised her hand to the sky and Dave could feel the power that fell into her. Her laugh pierced him and made him want to run and hide and never leave again, but he kept walking forward.

Suddenly the sky erupted in bright light. Jade screamed in surprise and Kelethme wailed. Dave covered his eyes with his hands and waited for the light to die down. When it did he brought his hands down and his eyes widened. John stood floating above them, with lightning practically pouring out of him, like he'd absorbed so much it was spilling out.

"No!" Kelethme wailed. "My power! Give it back!"

Many things happened at once. The power inside John became too much and it erupted out of him and into the sky. Kelethme tried to grab it but it seemed it did not want to help her anymore. Once she touched it she was struck and sent reeling back. Then Rose made her move. Wands in hand, she drove them into Kelethme's chest and a spell erupted out of her body, which then crumbled like it was made of ash.

Something broke apart inside Dave, something he had never noticed was wrapped around his soul, suffocating him. He felt like he could really breathe again. He watched as John stood up shakily and grinned at him.

"You okay Dave?" he asked.

"Yeah…yeah I'm amazing."

Rose turned to him and they locked eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her legs wobbled and she collapsed to the ground.

Rose knew what was happening, and she wasn't afraid. It was like when she brought her cat back to life, she was filled with a sense that fate was taking her life into its own hands, and she wasn't afraid of that. She knew this was coming. Dave was holding her with her head on his lap and calling to her, but it all seemed so far away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You're not a…monster Dave. I'm…sorry I called you…that."

"It's all right," Dave said. "It's all right now."

She could feel herself getting weaker and she struggled to say more. "I'm…sorry I killed…your friend."

"It…don't talk Rose."

"You'll be okay," John said. "We'll carry you out and Dirk can do something, or…"

"No. I'm…not going home."

"Don't say that!" Dave shouted. "You don't know that!"

"I promised…the evil…gods."

"What did you promise them Rose?"

She was slipping away from her friends and family, but she smiled. She had saved them, she had no regrets. "…A vessel."

Dave had never felt more powerless than he did as he watched Rose's body fill with black magic. Ink ran out of her eyes like tears and hundreds of voiced could be heard whispering excitedly. When it stopped and she opened her eyes she wasn't Rose anymore. Her eyes were black and cold, and when she opened her mouth hundreds of voices came out.

" **We can walk this world at long last.** "

"Where's Rose?" Dave asked. "Damn it, what have you done with her?!"

" **She is forever gone.** "

"Where?! You said she's gone, so where did she go?!"

" **Our home, to serve us forever.** "

"Dave?" Jade squeaked. "What's she saying? What happened to Rose?"

 _They can't understand them._ It made sense, they had not been touched by them, like he had. "That's not Rose. The evil gods…they took her body to use as a vessel."

" **She gave it to us willingly.** "

"SHUT UP!" Tears were starting to form in his eyes and his hands were clenched so tightly into fists he thought he might cut the skin of his hand. "IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU'RE THE REASON ALL THIS HAPPENED! YOU'RE THE ONES WHO GAVE KELETHME AND ROSE POWERS! YOU'RE THE ONES WHO SET THEM UP AGAINST EACH OTHER! YOU-"

" **AND WE ARE THE REASON YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!** "

Dave's gaze immediately dropped to the ground, as if a hand had roughly pushed it down. "…You bastards."

" **Return home now. This world will not hold for long without Kelethme's power to hold it together.** "

"…Rose is gone?" John asked. "But…but she can't be…"

"She is," Dave choked. "She…"

The ground cracked and shuddered and around them the castle began to fall. The evil gods held out their hands and shouted a chant. The castle warped and shifted until it was replaced with the graveyard and Dirk.

"Dave!" he shouted. He wrapped his arms around his brother and pressed him against him. "You're okay. You're okay." Dave hugged him back and felt himself start to cry. "Shh. You're okay."

"So fucking what?! Rose is…"

"Rose?" Dirk pulled away from him and looked at the evil gods. "What…what the hell happened?"

"The evil gods took her body as a vessel."

"What?!"

The evil gods ignored his comment and locked eyes with Dave. " **We have saved your life for the last time, Dave Strider. We will leave you for now, but know that you and your friends and family are forever connected to us.** "

"Get out of here!"

Darkness wrapped around the evil gods and they seemed to melt away into the shadows, disappearing. Dave bowed his head and covered his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Jade whispered. Tears were running down her face and her hands were shaking. "It's not…"

John collapsed on the ground and began sobbing. Jade joined in and soon all of them were huddled on the ground, crying. Dirk sat with them, not crying but shaking. Dave had his arms wrapped around his friends and his own head was bent low while tears streamed down his cheeks. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder and didn't have to look up to know it was Aradia. They stayed there, filling the night air with the sounds of their sadness. Eventually John asked the question that was waiting to be asked.

"What do we do now? What will…what will we tell Rose's mom?"

"Everything," Dave answered. "From the beginning. We'll tell your dad too, and we'll tell your grandpa what's happened Jade. Then…"

"Then we mourn," Jade whispered.

They're lives had been turned upside-down literally overnight. They had lost one of their best friends and now their lives would never be the same. They could only hold onto each other, and hope that they could make it through the rest.

 **And that's that. Before anyone asks, there is not a sequel. I did consider writing one, but I couldn't flesh it out and I have given up on that. Sorry. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
